The Boston Consulting Group
Type of Work: Pro Bono
Client: Save the Children International
How do you make the whole of a disparate, global NGO greater than the sum of its parts? One of the Boston Consulting Group's worldwide social-impact partners is a case in point. In 2009, Save the Children was a loose affiliation of 29 independent country organizations with little coordination between them, leading to inefficiencies and duplicative efforts. In 2013, SCI reached over 143 million children through its work, including over 52 million children directly.
The members realized that they had to revamp the way they worked in order to operate more effectively, strengthen their voice globally, and ultimately provide greater support to more children. They agreed to embark on an ambitious, multi-year change program, merging their international operations into a single line management structure: Save the Children International (SCI).
Mark Freedman, Senior Partner and Managing Director, says the firm found success with a program called Unified Presence, which began to bring together Save the Children in several countries into a unified organization "to fulfill its mandate," he says. "That was something we were really excited about and it's been a multi-year journey. It was a huge leap of faith for the leaders across the globe."
Jasmine Whitbread, CEO of Save the Children International, says to fulfill the organization's potential, it needed to combine resources and work in a much smarter way. "We knew it would be difficult, but we also knew this was groundbreaking in our sector and working with BCG gave us the confidence, as well as the wider perspective to be able to do this," she says. "We knew it was ambitious but we also knew BCG would bring the profession rigor needed to execute a change program like this. That helped carry the day and get the agreement from all the global Save the Children locations." Then the hard work began, she says. "It is one thing to have wonderful ideas, but you need to have the capabilities to see them through," Whitbread says.
BCG helped devise the strategy and design the new organization. It then set up the post-merger organization to ensure the smooth running of the processes Craig Baker, a Partner and Managing Director at BCG, says the biggest challenge was the shift in power structures and decision-making responsibilities. "We had to implement a model of collaboration and network leadership, which fundamentally changes the entire operation," he says. "The transformation has been phenomenal. I think we passed the tipping point and there's been no looking back."
The impact from this transformation has been huge, says Wendy Woods, Global Leader of BCG's Social Impact Practice. The initiative has made operations significantly more efficient and effective, allowing more money to be spent on delivering higher-quality programs that reach more children. In addition, a central international programming body was created, aggregating 14,000 employees from independent programs into a global organization. Top talent was retained and new leaders were brought in from other NGOs and the private sector to build a modern, networked organization for the 21st century.
"I think the boldness and the commitment of the leadership has to be commended," Woods says. For them to do what's best for the organization, and the children, despite the upheaval, is impressive. It's the only way this could have ever gotten done."
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