Programs 

NGO programs are the sectors that the NGO works within and execute projects related to these sectors.

There are many programs the NGO can work on when planning for its future projects; examples of these programs are:

• Health,

• Food,

• Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH),

• Education,

• Protection,

• Childhood,

• Shelter,

• Climate,

• Peace Building,

• and a lot more.

A set of programs in Portal365 system

Programs Importance

1- Building the structure of your NGO

When the NGO specifies which programs it will work on, then the projects proposals developed by the NGO should be within these programs, whether the project is targeting one program or more than one.

2- Help creates standard data for your projects proposals

The content of the log frame in all the projects within one program is often similar in indicators, activities, outcomes, outputs, etc. When this data is set up for each program, it will facilitate the grant writing process afterwards and let you choose and modify data example for each program.

Choosing the NGO programs, and how many?

The NGO team should specify the programs in the early days of the establishing process; it is preferred to choose just a couple of them, that's because every program has its own indicators, activities, and outcomes and therefore many donors are targeting specific programs and give grants exclusively to projects within these programs.

Bear in mind that many donors will require the NGO to have previous projects in that sector so the NGO can prove that they have the experience in executing projects within these programs. That's why it's better for the NGO at the beginning to have fewer programs and execute projects really well within these programs; when the NGO grows with time and their capacity increases, then they can add new programs to their workflow.

How to determine the name of the program

The name of the program is determined by the

 sector the NGO wants to work on. For example, if the program is about water, the program will be called the Water program. The project proposals for water are therefore part of this program and contribute to achieving its strategic objectives, similarly with the Health program, Food program, Protection program and others.

Note that the name of the program may vary from one organization to another and from one donor to another; furthermore, than one sector may be merged into a single program such as the education and child protection program. Although the names may vary, what is important is the existence of a particular need or that the organization wants to work on it.