The RINGO Project is a systems change initiative that seeks to re-imagine international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and the role of the global civil society. The initiative was created and during its first phase hosted by Rights CoLab. As of the beginning of 2023, the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) has taken over the hosting of the RINGO project phase 2. This includes, above all, convincing INGO boards and donors of the benefits of locally led action.
INGOs are under immense pressure to transform and are no longer fit for purpose: internally, issues around gender, safeguarding, race and power are being questioned; externally, the challenges they face from climate change to global inequality, conflict and now a global pandemic seem to have left INGOs unable to truly respond with sufficient efficacy to change the status quo.The aim is to not only transform single institutions. There is a need to change the system in which INGOs function, too. The RINGO project started off convening 55 innovators who represent ‘the system’ of INGOs (including southern partners, funders and INGO leaders) in a social lab, to rapidly develop and launch prototypes that can transform institutions and the systems in which they function.
