“Building on Solid Ground” earns its title. It is practical, honest and timely, and it is written with the kind of clarity that respects your time. If you work in Africa’s civil society space, this book belongs on your shelf, because it gives you both a foundation to build on and a mirror to grow by. It is, simply put, a good read, and one I am proud to recommend.
Every organisation begins with a reason, though not every founder stops long enough to ask what that reason really is. Jude Ilo sets out to help those of us in Africa’s civil society space build our organisations on something stronger than good intentions. What struck me most as I read his latest effort, Building on Solid Ground: Primer on Resilience and Sustainability of CSOs in Africa, was how clear and accessible it is. It felt like sitting across from a professor who breaks things down the way they actually work on the ground. The book doesn’t shy away from the real issues that civil society organisations (CSOs) are faced with, including leadership, people management, accountability, and sustainability.
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The first part looks at why we set up organisations in the first place and the different reasons that people do so, using case studies that are well chosen and easy to learn from. Instead of taking the decision to start an organisation for granted, Jude asks you to think about the reason behind it, because that reason shapes everything that comes after. From there, the book moves into the real work of strategy.
As one responsible for strategy in my own organisation, I found chapters two, three, and four especially helpful, because they break down the who, the how and the what of building a strategy in a way that is practical and easy to apply. One point stayed with me more than the others. Jude takes time to explain how many organisations in Africa struggle to set specific objectives, often because they want to keep their positioning broad enough to attract a wider range of funding. It is an honest take on a very real struggle in our work, and how plainly he states it, is one of the things I love about this book.
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The second part turns to how we hold an organisation together once it is up and running, and this is where I found myself nodding most often. I like how he asks us to look inward and honestly check ourselves against the way we actually operate, because that is something we rarely make time to do. He writes clearly about accountability and oversight, and his point about building guardrails so that we keep our own power in check is one that every leader should take to heart.
The fourth part of the book is my favourite, and it could not have come at a better time. At a moment when the civic space is shrinking and so many organisations are struggling with limited resources, this part is full of practical lessons that speak directly to the pressures we are facing. His call to focus on real results, and to stop leaning on polished social media packaging, rings true for me, because it is a discipline our sector too easily loses sight of.
He is just as clear about the need for strong management controls and the real role and purpose of a board, which he treats as a true pillar of good governance. What he says about bureaucracy strikes a personal chord. As someone who has at times been accused of being bureaucratic, it reassures me that structure has its place, and that the real work is in balancing it with the flexibility an organisation needs to keep moving. The book is full of lessons like this, and I have already started using some of them to strengthen governance in my own organisation.
The third part, built around the idea that the employee is king, is an area I read with a quiet sense of pride. Jude makes a strong case for investing in the growth of the people who carry the work, and his reminder that organisations thrive when they truly invest in their people speaks to something I believe strongly, because I have seen, firsthand, that when you take care of the people doing the work, they take care of everything else. This is one area where I feel able to give my own organisation a high score, because investing in our people and building a strong sense of community has always been something we hold dear. It felt good reading a chapter that affirms this, in a book that otherwise keeps pushing you to do better. What makes these lessons stick is how he keeps using practical case studies, so you always have something real to learn from.
The fourth part of the book is my favourite, and it could not have come at a better time. At a moment when the civic space is shrinking and so many organisations are struggling with limited resources, this part is full of practical lessons that speak directly to the pressures we are facing. His call to focus on real results, and to stop leaning on polished social media packaging, rings true for me, because it is a discipline our sector too easily loses sight of.
The final part turns to branding and credibility building, and it works well as a summary that pulls the whole book together. I will admit that I find this part the most daunting, because I generally shy away from networking, maybe due to my personality. Reading it, I see this as something I will have to work on, and there is real value in a book that holds up a mirror and shows you where your own growth lies.
One line here has stayed with me, that “innovation is the only effective response to an environment where the forces of retrogression are constantly fine-tuning their craft.” In a sector where the challenges we fight keep evolving, we cannot afford to stand still while the things working against progress keep sharpening their tools. He also writes honestly about understanding the funding landscape and the frustrations that come with it, and about how building strategic relationships can carry an organisation through its leaner times.
The final part turns to branding and credibility building, and it works well as a summary that pulls the whole book together. I will admit that I find this part the most daunting, because I generally shy away from networking, maybe due to my personality. Reading it, I see this as something I will have to work on, and there is real value in a book that holds up a mirror and shows you where your own growth lies.
Building on Solid Ground earns its title. It is practical, honest and timely, and it is written with the kind of clarity that respects your time. If you work in Africa’s civil society space, this book belongs on your shelf, because it gives you both a foundation to build on and a mirror to grow by. It is, simply put, a good read, and one I am proud to recommend.
Ijeoma Dove-Oforka is a public health professional and the Chief Operating Officer at Connected Development (CODE).
