Blog 11 min read

Supporting NGOs working in Africa

How Mauve Group can help NGOs across the African continent.

Published on 19 Nov 2024

Organisations within the not-for-profit sector often have to contend with a number of challenges at short notice. This means that NGOs' global mobility needs are unique.

While NGOs operate globally, a great many work on the continent of Africa. Here, they attend to causes such as peace efforts and provision of food and healthcare.

According to Rhodes University, the non-profit sector continues to expand quickly in this region. South Africa alone has more than 100,000 registered non-profit organisations. Between 1997 and 2006, the number of NGOs in Kenya grew by over 400%.

When seeking to go global, whether it’s a short-term assignment or a long-term expansion, NGOs have many factors to consider.

Let’s examine the unique needs of the NGO sector when it comes to global projects and how Mauve Group can meet these needs for NGOs operating in Africa.

The unique needs of the NGO sector

Short notice

NGOs often operate in a number of countries, with assignments needing to be facilitated at short notice. This can occur when NGOs must respond to sudden crises such as conflict outbreaks or natural disasters. For example, Doctors Without Borders is in Sudan. There, severe conflict has caused the loss of over 61,000 lives in the past year.

With 28 years of experience supporting organisations with projects of all lengths, Mauve Group is well-placed to ensure the seamless and efficient entry of NGO personnel into the required country. In these situations, local knowledge is crucial. An example is the fact that some countries have visas specifically for staff of NGOs, like Nigeria’s F7M visa.

Complex requirements in multiple regions

NGOs must meet the legal requirements of each country they are operating in. This can be challenging as laws vary hugely between regions. The process of commencing operations in a new country can be immensely complex as a result of this.

Many NGOs operate in multiple countries in Africa. Operating in a number of countries, each with differing regulations, can also be difficult.

Examples include Irish charity Trócaire which has a presence in nine African nations, while Concern Worldwide is in 15 countries in Africa. When operating at this level, the NGO will need support to ensure compliance across multiple regions.

Mauve Group offers comprehensive service packages which cover all elements of cross-regional compliance. Mauve can help NGOs work smoothly in many regions. We offer support with visa and immigration, employment options, and global payroll. We can package our services in unique configurations to meet your NGO's specific needs.

Establishing legal status and clarifying purpose

When they expand into a new place, NGO employers must define their legal status. This applies whether they move employees from abroad or hire new talent locally. They also need to clarify their purpose in the new location.

This process can vary in length and complexity, depending on the place. Often, NGOs will be expanding into developing nations, which can come with significant legal burdens. The NGO or their service provider must do thorough research before the project starts. This will help ensure nothing is missed.

Mauve’s Legal and Compliance team is ready and able to support NGOs and simplify what can be a complex process.

Cultural differences

It is important to think about the local culture and social norms in the new area. This helps ensure smooth expansion and integration. NGOs need to seek support and acceptance within the local communities they seek to support. Therefore, committing to learning and respecting accepted local norms and traditions is crucial.

Engaging a global expansion expert can help to ensure compliance and a smooth expansion. They can support the NGO by navigating compliance challenges, ensuring seamless onboarding and supporting the organisation with local expertise.

Mauve’s local experts can advise and support NGO personnel as they prepare to move to a new country, often at short notice. Access to local expertise is invaluable when it comes to cultural sensitivity and integration.

Hazards

The work of international NGOs and aid organisations can, at times, be dangerous. Workers often find themselves in places experiencing conflict or instability. It can also occur after natural or manmade disasters. Staff safeguarding is, therefore, a key element when planning a global assignment.

When supporting workers in dangerous areas, Mauve’s dedicated teams stay in touch with all workers. They regularly check in and monitor the situation in-country.

Operational considerations

NGOs expanding abroad should consider the operational and logistical aspects of such an undertaking. Operational considerations include:

Resource constraints

NGO budgets are often restricted, and any spend must be rigorously justified to stakeholders. Therefore, we must ensure that we take the most cost-effective route in every instance.

Due to the strict budgets and time sensitive nature of many overseas projects run by non-profits, their HR teams cannot afford delays or unexpected fees. The mishandling of funds can be very serious and get organisations into trouble, if found to be in breach of regulations. In 2021, authorities in Uganda suspended more than 50 civic groups for allegedly not complying with regulations.

Consulting a global expansion expert like Mauve Group can be helpful when allocating budget and assessing local remuneration expectations.

Stakeholders and governance

NGOs must adhere to the wishes of a number of stakeholders. These include the charity governance codes, which dictate rules regarding decision making. This means that any action must go through a number of approval processes before it can go ahead. This can be a challenge when it comes to expanding rapidly to meet urgent demand.

Charities are also responsible for ensuring they are not breaching any financial sanctions placed on individuals, organisations, or countries. To achieve this, they need full transparency in their global operations. They must also check potential partners carefully to avoid breaking their legal responsibilities. For example, in July of 2024, authorities censured 400 NGOs operating in Zimbabwe for non-compliance.

Mauve Group’s skilled Legal and Compliance team is ready to help NGOs. We ensure compliance at every stage of their global mobility project.

How Mauve can help NGOs to expand into Africa

If your not-for-profit organisation is seeking to expand into Africa, Mauve Group can help. Our versatile solutions can be applied to a variety of situations and requirements.

The methods available to an organisation to enable an assignment will depend greatly on individual circumstances, as these will all interact differently with local employment, tax, and immigration laws. It is important for NGOs to carefully examine their answers to the above questions, seek expert advice and guidance, become familiar with local laws and regulations, and gauge which option benefits the goals of the assignment the most.

The main routes include:

Employer of Record

An Employer of Record (EoR) is a service offered by a third-party global employment services provider. NGOs can use an EoR to outsource the employment of the worker to the EoR company’s local entity.

This way, the NGO still retains control over the employee’s day-to-day activities. EoR companies are experts in the local legal landscape. An EoR can help NGOs to navigate any bureaucratic red tape and take responsibility of compliance with things like taxes and local employment laws.

Global business expansion

If a global project will be long-term or permanent, creating an entity may be the most cost-effective option.

The ways to do this will differ greatly between countries. Therefore, it is important to get advice from a global expansion expert.

Global payroll

Mauve Group’s Global Payroll service supports your NGO to entrust all in-country payroll services to Mauve. Mauve will then ensure 100% tax compliance and timely remittance of salaries. Our local experts establish in-country payroll, including employee registration with the local authorities.

Global HR

When you are expanding your business across the world, you must comply with local and international HR codes. With Mauve’s HR consultancy service, you can ensure comprehensive compliance in everything from employment contracts to employee benefits.

Visa and immigration

Using 28 years of in-country expertise and a worldwide network, Mauve will advise on the best immigration routes for your NGO. Our teams will carry out your corporate work permit, global visa, and residency applications. This means you can guarantee the quick and compliant transfers of your new hires, business visitors, and employees and their dependents.

Consultancy services

Global mobility organisations have the connections and expertise to help NGOs in Africa. You can consult them for insights on the unique challenges that NGOs encounter around the world. These organisations can provide valuable advice and resources.

These expert companies can highlight red flags and recommend best practice options on all local operations relating to payroll, taxation, immigration, HR, and employment law.

Ashoka Africa testimonial

Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the oldest and largest global network of system-changing social entrepreneurs. It has been at the forefront of developing the field of social entrepreneurship – supporting over 3,700 social innovators in 92 countries through a life-time fellowship, financially and non-financially.

Ashoka is highly experienced in identifying, connecting, and scaling-up solutions to socio-economic challenges. Ashoka is in over 23 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1990, it has supported over 460 African social entrepreneurs.

Ashoka also aims to transform the lifestyles of young people and how they grow up. The aim is for each individual to have the power to think and act as changemakers.

Looking to expand its operations in South Africa, Ashoka sourced Mauve Group’s Employer of Record solution to employ a worker without having to set up its own local entity. Josephine Nzerem, Regional Director of Ashoka Anglophone West Africa, expanded on her experience of working with Mauve Group.

Ashoka is a worldwide non-profit organisation. We came to Mauve because our staff member who was based in South Africa was leaving the country, and we wanted to ensure our operations there continued. Unfortunately, setting up your own legal entity comes with a lot of baggage. As a non-profit organisation, we required a solution that was seamless and easy. We started looking into our options, and it was then that our previous staff member introduced us to Mauve.

We love Mauve’s services because it has allowed us to hire a single paid staff member in South Africa without needing to have set up a legal entity. As you can imagine, it did not make sense to manage the complexities and workload of setting up our own legal entity for the purpose of one staff member, so this opportunity with Mauve made it possible for Ashoka to increase its visibility in South Africa without going against the local laws.

Mauve’s online system, Mauve Insight, also makes it very easy for us to hire more employees. We are currently looking to hire more employees for South Africa and it is great that we can use this simple process instead of having to do it all manually.

I highly recommend using the online platform, the sign-up process is straightforward and the whole system is very easy to use. Approvals are also reviewed and accepted at a faster rate – I just go online, submit my request and the Mauve team will accept. I love it!

I would like to recommend Mauve Group particularly to those who are looking to manage a small number of staff members in a single location. Ashoka now operates in South Africa and we don’t have our own legal entity, but we are still continuing our programmes and everything is fully compliant.

Once we do eventually start our own legal entity in South Africa, we don’t intend on ending our relationship with Mauve Group. As Ashoka Africa progresses, we would like our relationship with Mauve to continue.

Josephine Nzerem – Regional Director at Ashoka Africa