NGOs are increasingly concerned to scale up their impact, whilst donors look to them to help strengthen civil society. It is therefore important to assess the role of NGOs in promoting membership organisations.
The case of Saptagram – an innovative Bangladesh NGO, which used a process of group-based development to empower poor rural women – is explored to derive more general propositions about how this relationship should work. Successful outcomes are found to have depended upon a number of factors. The fact that the organisation was run by women was essential if poor women’s needs were to be addressed. Flexibility was required in the way in which, and the pace at which, groups evolved. The selection of activities that reinforce each other was critical, and so was the sequence in which they were introduced. Ultimately, everything else rested on the formulation of clear long-term objectives by which strategy could be guided.
