During our first week as interns at EnAble India, as we were finalizing the specific topic of our project, our team conducted a SWOT Analysis of the organization (ie, examining EI’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). After first brainstorming in these areas, we built upon the original diagram by adding several new categories: areas of opportunity (the intersection of strengths and opportunities), areas of missed opportunity (weaknesses + opportunity), areas of work (strengths + threats), and areas of concern (weaknesses + threats). This setup is summarized in the diagram below.
Template for a SWOT Analysis
| Strengths (internal) | Weaknesses (internal) | |
| Opportunities (external) | Areas of Opportunity | Areas of Missed Opportunity |
| Threats (external) | Areas of Work | Areas of Concern |
It was a bit of a mind-bending exercise, given that days before we had just arrived in Bangalore, and we were only beginning our in-depth learning about EnAble India. With the insights of annual reports, internal documents, and our own meetings with EnAble staff (primarily Shanti and Dipesh, the co-founders), we moved ahead. But when we met with Shanti to discuss our first draft, she pointed out one key strength that we had overlooked: EnAble India’s values.
This concept of explicitly viewing a non-profit organization’s particular values as a strength, rather than a given quality, was new to me. But as our project progressed and we began to discuss plans for EnAble India to enter into formal partnerships with other organizations, the importance of values again emerged as a key factor. And after seeing EnAble India in action, I understand why.
What exactly do I mean by values? In the case of EnAble India, they can be divided into two categories: sector-specific and operational. The values relevant to the disability sector relate to whether an organization treats persons with disability (PWD) as dependents in need of care or independent individuals in need of support. In EnAble India’s experience, the alignment of values in this area has been particularly key in developing successful partnerships with other organizations that serve PWD.
Operational values relate to an organization’s attitudes/approaches towards both everyday practices and long-term development. Alignment in this area becomes critical when establishing more complex partnerships (one of the core elements of our business plan). Some of the qualities that we discussed during our meetings at EI include the following:
- Effective, frank communication. Particularly key when problems arise [ex. A particular program (or an element of it) may not be achieving its objectives]. Is the organization’s leadership willing to consider feedback about possible changes?
- Continuous learning and improvement. Does the organization have informal or formal systems in place to collect new insights at the implementation level and feed them back to the leadership? (Relates closely to effective communication).
- Realistic and meaningful goals. An organization should care about the “numbers” (ex. number of PWD placed per year), but not be blinded by a numerical standard to the point where the quality of services suffers.
“We are not the experts,” said Shanti one day as we were discussing the importance of knowledge management. This could be seen as a bit of a curious statement, given that EI is undisputedly a leader in its field and our GSE project outlines an approach for scaling their disability livelihoods model across India. But this statement captures EnAble India’s willingness to refine, rethink, and recreate itself as new insights or conditions arise. As I have been reflecting on my own overall experience of working with NGOs, I now understand that this commitment to listening and learning is incredibly important in the social sector.
Had I been asked to assess or evaluate an non-profit organization prior to GSE, I most likely would have focused solely on very tangible characteristics – the types of programs, the expertise of its staff, and the source of its funding. The availability of strategic planning documents and social impact data would also be incredibly helpful. But acquiring a thorough and explicit understanding of an organization’s values? More of an afterthought – perhaps because most groups operating in the social sector generally share a common set of values relating to the importance of human development and dignity. Beneath the surface, however, values play a critical role in organizational growth and change. This understanding represents one of the most important lessons I’ve taken from my time in India this year.
