Investigating Factors Affecting The Financial Sustainability Of Civil Society Organisations In Namibia

ABSTRACT

Civil society organisations (CSOs) in developing countries like Namibia experience multiple operational hindrances, especially financial sustainability challenges that lead to the closure of their operations after few years leaving a void in many communities where they operate due to their dependency on foreign funding. Thus, there is need to establish the factors that affect the financial sustainability of these CSOs. The research sought to investigate the factors that affect financial sustainability of CSOs in Namibia. The target population of the research was 300 national CSOs in Namibia that depend on donor funding. The research sampled 80 CSOs and purposive sampling was used to select 1 employee in top management from each CSO giving a sample of 80 respondents. The research was based on primary data which was collected through a structured questionnaire. Content validity index (cvi) was used to establish whether the questionnaire measured what it was meant to measure and test-retest reliability was done where Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure reliability. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysis of the data. The research indicated and concluded that Income Diversification, Income Generation, Financial Management, Donor Relationship Management and Management Competence affected financial sustainability of CSOs in Namibia. The research further concluded that CSOs in Namibia are financially unsustainable. The research recommends management training, adoption of proper financial management practices and establishment of income generating projects as some of the strategies for these CSOs to achieve financial sustainability. The research further recommends a research on financial factors affecting sustainability of community based and faith-based organisations in Namibia.