NGO Management

Who is it for?

If your career aim is to secure or develop a leading position in an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), this course is ideally suited to your needs.

Academically rigorous and practically applied, the course is designed to help you develop a senior management career in international development, become a board member of an international NGO board, or work in a foundation funding work internationally.

Objectives

You will focus on the rapidly evolving context of international development. You will explore the implication for NGOs of the trends shaping the sector. How is the role of civil society changing? What will be the impact of altering aid flows, increased funding for humanitarian and security work and shifting North-South relations? How are new digital technologies affecting the way NGOs work? What are the implications of the moves to greater collaboration and the increasing influence of the private sector in the development process?

The aim of the course is to enable you to develop your management, analytical and leadership skills so that you develop a rounded set of competencies that will enable you to flourish at the highest levels in global NGOs.

For further enquiries please contact: Dr Rick James ,The Charities Programme Office or 020 7040 5114.

Teaching staff

The NGO Management course is under the direction of  Dr Rick James and Professor John Hailey. The Director of the overall MSc programme is Dr Peter Grant.

Rick James has more than 25 years’ experience working with NGOs in Africa, Latin America and Europe. He has worked with INTRAC since its inception more than 20 years ago. He focuses on organisational change specialising in strategy and leadership development. He has consulted for more than 100 NGOs, faith-based organisations and official aid agencies, and has published over 50 articles and books. He has a PhD in NGO Management from City University and is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Management at Bayes.

Bev Jones has over 30 years’ experience in international development and politics, working with and within the civil society sector, with a strong focus on citizen-state engagement in its different forms, and more recently with governments and multi-lateral organisations. While her country experience extends from Nepal and Myanmar to Central Asia and North Africa, she has worked ffor the longest time on the Horn of Africa, especially Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia. She has developed, over the years, significant expertise in designing and delivering responses to politically complex environments. She has been teaching on the specialist NGO modules since 2013, first providing Master Classes on Adaptive Management, and now as Visiting Lecturer.

Visiting lecturers on the NGO Management course have included:

• Professor David Lewis, LSE;
• Graham MacKay, Chief Operating Officer, BOND
• Carolyn Miller, Chair, INTRAC;
• Sarah Mistry, Director of Effectiveness and Learning, BOND;
• Peter Moore, ActionAid International.

Fees

Fees in each subsequent year of study (where applicable) will be subject to an annual increase of 2%. We will confirm any change to the annual tuition fee to you in writing prior to you commencing each subsequent year of study (where applicable).

The course fees for all five courses in the Charities Programme are payable at the start of the academic year. The fee for the Postgraduate Diploma is £6,900 for 2023/24 entry. A deposit of £400 is payable on acceptance of a place. For self-paying students, the balance is payable in two instalments, the first during the registration process in September and the second at the end of January. For those converting the Diploma to MSc a further £4,000 for 2023/24 entry is payable in one instalment at the beginning of the second year.

You may wish to look at both the PG Loan option for funding.

Students on the course who are sponsored by their employer will need to complete a sponsorship form as part of the application process. This can be completed for the Postgraduate Diploma or the MSc. An invoice for the full fees for the academic year will be sent to the employer in October for the Postgraduate Diploma. If the employer is a charity, they can request payment in two instalments by contacting the person named on the invoice. This arrangement allows the charity to spread the fees across two financial years.

Experience of past students is that by completing the course increases their employability in the sector, and gives them greater flexibility as to career options. Past students have come from NGOs of all sizes, as well as foundations, business and the public sector. Their feedback has been very positive:

"I'm now better equipped to serve civil society and to strengthen its effectiveness in pursuit of an open society"

- Rozanne Nazir, Centre for Charity Effectiveness 2018

“I found the MSc in NGO Management to be extremely practical and valuable. The course gave an excellent overview of the issues facing charities that are working internationally … the quality of the teaching was high and the assignments relevant and stimulating.  I highly recommend it”

- Matt Parker, Vice President, Kids Alive International, Chicago, USA

“Studying NGO Management at the Business School (formerly Cass), and especially combining it with Finance, enabled me to make the step into a leadership role. The course provides the perfect combination of academic rigour, practical knowledge, and teachers and classmates with experience from across the sector.”

- Meryl Davies, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Great Britain

“I cannot recommend more nor speak more highly of the Masters in NGO Management at the Business School (formerly Cass). The quality, pace and depth of the teaching, learning and challenge was genuinely excellent. I was promoted within a few weeks of completing the course and 100% believe this would not have happened so quickly without the added value the Masters brought to me. The Masters itself, the professors and my fellow students gave me huge confidence and knowledge. Reflecting on it 12 months later, I feel that the main thing the course has given me is access – access to critical information, best practise approaches and most importantly individuals that will continue to help shape my learning and challenge my thinking throughout my career.”

- Jennifer Coffey, Deputy Head of Partnership Development, Save the Children UK Global Programmes

“The course gave me the confidence to strengthen my role in the senior management team, which ultimately lead to my appointment as Deputy Director”

- Gillian Garcia, Deputy Director, CDD, Mexico City

“It was like ten years of NGO management experience analysed thoroughly, distilled into a single course and personalised for me.  In the course you will have a chance to survey our field broadly, to think critically about what you bring to it, and to focus on what you can do to become a better international NGO leaders and manager”
- Ted Nierras, Global Coordinator of Alliance Centres, HIV/AIDS Alliance

“I have used the models and approaches which I learned on the course in my day to day work.  The breadth of the course gave me the confidence that I know the key issues across the range of functions within NGOs”

- Alison Marshall, Senior Advocacy Adviser, International Planned Parenthood Federation

“The NGO Management course provides a fascinating insight into the key challenges and trends that are shaping international development today. The course combines academic rigour with a practical focus, and is delivered by lecturers and practitioners who are able to illustrate issues with first-hand experience and recent case studies. Sitting in class, I’d often feel I was getting a “behind the scenes” look into how NGOs operate”

- Adam Groves. Senior Programme Manager, Radar