A Team4Tech Article by Jody Britten and Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald
In under-resourced communities, over 250 million children lack access to quality education. This barrier is compounded by the need to strengthen organizational capacity and scale for the NGOs serving these learners.
Too often, NGOs across the globe operate with minimal resources and no clear path to long-term sustainability.
However, capacity-strengthening initiatives, including just-in-time training and access to resources and skilled-based volunteering, can make a significant difference in supporting NGO infrastructure and growth.
When NGOs have access to resources that strengthen their capacity, they can:
- Expand high-quality programming that meets the needs of learners in under-resourced communities
- Adapt to changing circumstances and emerging challenges, such as shifts in educational technology or funding landscapes
- Scale their impact by fostering innovation and creating sustainable solutions
Team4Tech is an impact accelerator for education-focused NGOs. Our accelerator program includes four interconnected components, including:
- Facilitated Regional Hubs. Our regional hub leaders in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean act as ecosystem builders. They facilitate connections, lead networking, and co-create context-specific resources, hands-on workshops, and virtual cohorts. These hubs are human-powered opportunities for education NGOs to learn from and with one another.
- Skilled Volunteers and Resource Partners. These key collaborators play a critical role in building infrastructure that strengthens NGOs. Through employee engagement programming, companies provide expertise and mentorship, contributing professional skills to support NGOs in implementing and scaling impactful solutions.
- Global Online Community of Practice. Our dynamic platform provides continuous learning by connecting NGOs with a network of peers, experts, and over 10,000 carefully curated educational and organizational resources. To date, the Community of Practice serves nearly 900 education NGOs from nearly 50% of the world’s countries. The Community of Practice provides opportunities for NGOs to access courses, training events, and networking opportunities.
- Funding and Coaching. Team4Tech’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of NGOs also include coaching and tailored guidance in developing actionable plans for sustainability and scale, helping them refine their strategies, optimize resources, and identify growth opportunities. Alongside coaching, Team4Tech facilitates access to seed funding, enabling NGOs to pilot innovative ideas and build foundations for expansion.
These four components are guided by evidence-based practice and our recently released Team4Tech DISC Framework for Employability Skills to strategically stage resources and supports that strengthen the capacity of organizations.
The data engine that helps us to evaluate our impact accelerator programs captures real-time feedback, user analytics, field reports, organizational assessments, and more. Cumulatively, we are monitoring how our programs strengthen capacity and support NGO growth.
Today, our impact accelerator data has been able to demonstrate the following:
- A 44% increase in knowledge gains across our courses
- 98% of participants feel their organizations are more prepared to implement evidence-based practices after participation in co-learning experiences
- Over 3,700 users in our Community of Practice are active each month, accessing, on average 14 different resources during each login
But there is still significant work to be done.
- Only 55% of NGOs have achieved functional operations with structured student programming and are ready for improvements
- NGOs need the most organizational support in the areas of marketing, financial modeling, and setting up physical infrastructure
- NGOs need the most educational support in accessing evidence-based training around digital, innovation, social-emotional, and collaboration skills.
Team4Tech’s integrated approach combines technical expertise, funding, and community-building to create a comprehensive and effective model for capacity strengthening. Using our multifaceted approach, we see progress among our NGOs in addressing local challenges. Looking ahead, we invite:
- NGOs dedicated to improving education in under-resourced communities to join our Community of Practice and become part of this global movement.
- Companies committed to addressing education for employability to join our partner programs delivering skilled-based volunteering programming. Reach out to our Chief Partnerships Officer to learn more.
The work of strengthening NGO capacity is more than just an investment in organizations—it is an investment in the futures of millions of learners worldwide.
Together, we can accelerate progress and ensure every learner has access to the quality education they deserve.