SANGONeT was founded in 1987, and over the past 20 years has developed into a dynamic civil society organisation with a history closely linked to the social and political changes experienced by South Africa during its transition to democracy. SANGONeT is still one of very few NGOs in Africa involved in the field of information communication technologies (ICTs) and continues to serve civil society with a wide range of ICT products and services.

SANGONeT’s ICT services and interventions continue to be shaped by the challenge of strengthening the capacity of NGOs in finding long-term and sustainable solutions in response to Southern Africa’s development problems. NGOs’ capacity for service delivery increasingly requires that attention be given to their ability to use, manage and implement as well as integrate ICTs into their activities. Although many South African NGOs are already active users of ICTs, much more needs to be done to build the capacity of the sector in this regard.

The ongoing challenge facing SANGONeT is to strengthen its role and contribution through the relevance of its products and services, customising its ICT services to the specific needs of the NGO sector, improving its interaction, relationship and response to the needs of current and potential NGO clients, building relationships and partnerships with strategic roleplayers in the NGO, government and private sectors; and to provide leadership and guidance to the Southern African NGO sector as far as ICT issues are concerned.

The establishment of the SANGONeT NGO Portal on 24 October 2005 represents our strategic response to the challenges facing the local NGO sector and is the culmination of SANGONeT’s years of experience of working in the online environment. Since our inception, we have developed a wide range of websites and online resources to highlight development issues in South Africa, the wider Southern African region and the African continent in general. The portal integrates our existing range of development information activities, as well as deepen our knowledge of the NGO sector.

The SANGONeT NGO Portal provides a gateway to the South African NGO sector. Its four main objectives are to develop the institutional capacity of the NGO sector through the provision of information that is intended to support stronger management practises; map NGOs and their activities through PRODDER, the most comprehensive database of its kind in Africa; create a community space for civil society exchange; and promote the benefits of ICTs in support of the work of civil society.

The portal provides NGOs with a mechanism to air their views, while also creating the opportunity for other stakeholders to critique and evaluate the sector. Moreover, it is envisaged to become a market place where services can be procured and exchanged. It also provides SANGONeT with a strategic mechanism to communicate its activities and services to the NGO sector and other development stakeholders.