Global Excellence in Management (GEM) was a university-based program of learning and education that worked in partnership with U.S. Private and Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) and international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to conduct capacity building programs that supported new models of institutional excellence from 1994 - 2001.
GEM was known for programs that were original and intellectually alive; for its signature themes of appreciative inquiry, global partnership and knowledge generation; for its human-centered approach that was responsive to the advanced learning agendas of PVO and NGO leadership teams; and for its capacity-building work that was collaboratively constructed for enduring consequence. Participation in GEM programs enabled organizations to discover and heighten their capacities to continuously learn, change and innovate.
The idea for GEM developed in direct response to the U.S. Agency for International Development's increased emphasis on strengthening the capacity and in creas ing the role of PVOs and NGOs in the development arena. GEM also grew out of recommendations from the Joint USAID/PVO Task Force which concluded that support for institutional capacity building is an essential component of a focused and results-oriented development strategy and integral to the fundamental concept of sustainable development.
GEM capacity building programs had a common theme of enhancing partnership. This emphasis on partnership, especially the partnership between northern PVOs and southern NGOs, grew out of observations, learnings, participant feedback and changing donor priorities that all pointed to the lesson that effective development required cooperation among diverse constitutencies to confront challenges none could successfuly address alone. Each of these programs could be customized to meet the specific need of a country or region or group of organization. All GEM programs worked with local trainers to ensure sustainability and assist in follow-up activities.
In most cases GEM worked in collaboration with U.S. PVOs and NGO consortia with a strong presence in a particular country or region. Through this collaborative approach, GEM substantially leveraged existing PVO and NGO efforts in the field.
GEM's goal was to encourage and support new forms of cooperation between PVOs and NGOs and to build organizational capacities in order to promote sustainable, long term development. This was accomplished through programs that:
1. Developed skills and capacities for creating, managing and evolving partnerships, alliances, and networks that are mutually beneficial. 2. Strengthened key organizational capacities of PVOs and NGOs so that they could provide more effective development assistance and make stronger partners. 3. Built the individual capacities of PVO and NGO leaders engaged in managing partnership development and organizational change. 4. Discovered, documented, and disseminated best practices of organizational excellence, and effective partnership and alliance building.
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GEM was funded through a cooperative agreement between the U. S. Agency for International Development's Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation and the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
The program continues under the leadership of Ada Jo Mann and AIC.
Phone number in Washington DC : 202-363-9292
The GEM Initiative Archive / revised February 2003