I have reached a new step in my career - I finally clicked the submission button on my master’s thesis! It was harder than I thought to say it was good enough and send it off. I had to fight a continual urge to keep adding more to it. But at 163 pages and after more than two years of research and hard work, I decided to send it off to the printers to be bound and find its home on a shelf somewhere in the Port land State University library.
As with the completion of my thesis, the completion of an NGO project doesn’t signal the end of the work. Just as I am going to take what I’ve learned and build on it, we always hope that communities benefitting from NGO projects go on to continue the work and fight those truly wicked problems such as chronic poverty, food insecurity, environmental degradation, etc. For this to happen NGOs should make sure they develop strong handover and close out plans. The end of a project is a busy time and this step can easily be overlooked, especially if staff are transitioning out of the organization at the same time. Regardless, this part of the project is extremely important because it help the community continue to work towards lasting change, a goal that most, if not all, NGO workers are committed to. Reminding ourselves of the outcomes and goals we had originally set for ourselves at the beginning of the project, helps us remember the amount of work remaining after the project. Meeting with community members to find ways for them to continue the work without the support of foreign aid dollars is a helpful exercise for the close out of any project.
