WESSA Phase 1 report to HHCT_28.10.2021

claimed by several interviewees) these views represented the views of individuals or a small influential group o No minutes or paper trails could be found to verify this • Members cherished regional autonomy, while Exco saw this as a threat to consistency, identity and good governance • Financial and governance accountability at branch and regional levels is insufficient, impacting on WESSA’s governance credibility. It was e.g. impossible to obtain minutes of regional and branch meetings from regional representatives and auditing is being compromised • WESSA is trapped in a very cumbersome legal and institutional structure with many legal entities and structures • Board mandates are prone to being derailed by diverging agendas • Financial governance may be cumbersome through a proliferation of separate bank accounts (that local committees "usually" have a bank account) • The current structure and operating model do not sync, despite evidence of recent restructuring there is still some evidence of top-heaviness in the organogram. There appears to be too many general, programme and project managers for the size of the Organization. The Board also appears to be somewhat large for an organization this size • There are diverging opinions about the roles of membership o WESSA Exco and staff, CEOs of other NGOs and former Board members felt strongly that the power and voting rights of the membership arm was the most significant disadvantage o Regional and branch leadership indicate that members wanted more management and professional staff support, yet without answers about how this would be funded o Comments from some branch representatives and friends’ groups that “WESSA is currently doing nothing for us” signal unrealistic expectations among members about WESSA’s professional support capacity • Concerns were raised about the way members’ representatives at regional, branch and Board level were trying to manage and direct the priorities of professional staff to serve their local concerns and interests, e.g. comment “It’s hard to accept that people who don’t pay your salary want to define what you do” • Poor communication which negatively impacts organizational culture and creates governance fault-lines was raised as an issue by regional and branch leadership, members, and supporters as well as the staff. For example, it was said "Management doesn't know exactly what all units are doing" by the staff, and the members indicated that there is a communication bottleneck between membership representatives on the board and the membership itself. This also relates to the way membership representatives on the Board communicate Board decisions to regions and branches • Organizational infrastructure e.g. IT systems, databases, buildings, facilities and office spaces are cumbersome, outdated and in need of rationalizing.

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