NETS, NET-CREATING AND NETWORKING 

Net – communication tool

The intrThe terms “nets”, “net-creating” and “networking” have lately become very popular and widely used not only in the NGO sector, but much wider, too. In this edition and in the next several editions of The Civic World we are going to present the basic concepts related to nets and networking: what are nets and networking, what is the difference between a net and organization, what kinds and structures of nets are there, information flow in the nets, representing the net, financing the networking, advantages and disadvantages of the networking etc.

What is the net?
Basically the net is a communication tool. It is a sum of contacts which do not have a hierarchical nature. They are not based on someone who has power over someone else. The contacts and activities in the net are always on voluntary basis. It does not mean there is not a responsibility. It only means that one person is not all the time responsible for everything. Responsibilities change, sometimes one person is responsible for certain thing, sometimes someone else. Nets do not comprise a lot of bureaucracy and they strive to be effective, dynamic and oriented towards action.

The NGO-net is a group of individuals and/or organizations which, on voluntary basis, exchange information or products or implement mutual activities and organize for that objective in a way that their individual autonomy remains safeguarded.
Haverkot (1993)

Net is a mechanism which links people and/or organizations which share some mutual values and/or objectives. They result from the need to get an approach to information, power, finance and anything else relevant to their founders. However, each net is developed under specific conditions. Their primary objective, design and level of formalization can be different. They can also change in due course.

Net-creating is often very important and in certain cases necessary, but the nets are means for reaching certain objectives, not an end in itself. They depend on the input and contribution by all their members. Contribution is the essence of any net. Generally, nets cannot function if someone waits for the others to take action, even if they had promised to do that.

Net and organization
It seems that there is a great level of confusion about what the net is and what the difference between net and organization is. Because of its vagueness the concept is subjected to different interpretations which are linked to the levels of formalization and the membership. For example, there is confusion whether the ones who create the net are members or participants. Sometimes it becomes quite a sensitive issue. People who are active in some nets sometimes state that the organizations have members, while the nets have participants. However, in the literature on the NGO-nets the most often used term is “member”.

Both organizations and nets are communication structures, although of different kind and different objectives. Organizations, generally, are formally registered legal bodies with permanent address and defined ownership and management. On the other hand, nets do not normally need these formal characteristics and generally are less bureaucratic and hierarchical. In spite of the fact that the nets can be described as a form of organization, they are most often characterized by emphasizing the information dissemination and linking the organizations and individuals.

Dealing with the information is also essential for the organizations, but usually their objective is to produce goods and services for the users (target groups) outside the organization. Nets, on the other hand are primarily established to serve those who are inside the net itself. It might be the best to consider nets as relations-links between the organizations.

Nets are often said to be opener and more democratic than the organizations. However, it is not always true. Actually, nets have a tendency to become quite exceptional (even if not established like this), uniting those who share mutual ideas with the group which initiated the net, excluding the others.

If nets are considered to be more democratic than the organizations, the reason for this can be explained by the fact that they have intermediary (mediating) function between formally independent units. Thus, net-creating is an activity carried out across the borders of the organizations itself. So it is not unusual at all the net-creating to happen between organizations which are actually competitive.


Prepared by: Sunchica Sazdova
(sources: Optimizing Efforts A Practical Guide to NGO Networking, UNSO/UNDP, May 2000 Communication and Networking for NGOs, UNITED for Intercultural Action)