A strategy that gets corrected
Review sessions have changed what we prioritise, rather than confirming what we already did.
Governance
Governance & Strategic Review
We ask communities to hold us to what we promised. That only means something if there is a structure that makes us answer.
GovernanceOngoing Tamale With Partners
The Challenge
The challenge
Small organisations working in hard-to-reach places are trusted with other people's money and, more importantly, with other people's time and expectations.
The risk is not usually dishonesty. It is drift: programmes that continue because they are funded rather than because they still fit, records that fall behind, and a strategy that slowly stops resembling what communities actually asked for. Funders, reasonably, want to see that an organisation catches that itself.
Our Response
What we do
Governance at DF is a working routine rather than a document produced at audit time.
- Regular board meetings with real oversight of programmes and finances
- Stakeholder review sessions that include community representatives
- Financial records and reporting kept to the standard funders expect
- Periodic strategic review, testing whether our programmes still match community priorities
- Safeguarding practice reviewed and shared openly with partners
The Difference
What it produces
Good governance is visible mostly in what does not go wrong, but it has concrete results.
Records funders can rely on
Clean financial and programme records mean due diligence is a short conversation.
Communities inside the oversight
Stakeholder reviews bring the people we serve into the room where performance is judged.
Safeguarding taken seriously
Our safeguarding practice is documented, reviewed, and shown to visiting partners.
Why It Matters
Why it matters
An organisation that intends to hand its work over to communities has to be well run enough to be worth copying. DFWC becoming independent was only possible because the structures behind it were sound.
Photographs from this project
Get Involved
How partners can help
Organisational strength is rarely funded directly, and it is what determines whether programme funding works.
- Fund core costs and organisational development, not only project activities
- Support systems, training and audit that raise our compliance standard
- Share governance and safeguarding practice with our board
- Carry out due diligence early so we can build to your requirements
Part of our Policy Advocacy programme.
More Of Our Work
Other projects
Women in the Shea Value Chain
Strengthening women's groups to collect, process and sell quality shea butter at fair prices.
Northern Region
Cassava & Gari Processing for Livelihoods
Equipping rural women and youth with agro-processing skills to add value and earn year-round income.
Savannah Region
Participatory Community Needs Assessment
Working with communities to map climate risks, resources and priorities before any intervention begins.
Northern Region
Fund a project that reaches the last mile.
Talk to us about co-designing your next programme in Northern Ghana.