Employee engagement, also known as ‘worker engagement’, is a profession that has grown in strategic importance over the past two decades. As the profession has grown, so too has the requirement on all organizational leaders to strengthen their knowledge and skills in this area. Just as every administrator needs a basic understanding of financial management, every practitioner needs a basic understanding of worker engagement. The proposed study intends to determine how employee engagement is being undertaken among non-profit organizations (NPOs) working in Africa, and the challenges faced by leaders in NPOs. There is an inherent difference in the manner the workforce is motivated in the conventional business organization, from that in NPOs. The former is operated to realize economic gain, which is likewise reflected in the personal goals and incentives the business offers its employees. NPOs, on the other hand, do not usually provide for substantial monetary compensation, since most, if not all, of its work force are volunteers. As such, workers are motivated more by their love and dedication to the mission of the organization and the cause for which it stands. Because of this fundamental difference, workers in NPOs cannot be persuaded to remain with the organization and contribute their best by the usual means of increasing pay and monetary incentives. Although employees are drawn to the job because of the psychic income, such may not be sufficient to sustain the commitment of these workers in the long term, without the necessary and appropriate support and action by the leaders of the organization. The threats posed by the social and physical environment on the continued commitment of an NPO’s staff will remain a source of challenge to its organizational leaders, programs and services in Africa, which this study will aim to explore.

Keywords: Employee Engagement in NPOs, Non-Profit Organizations, Sub-Saharan Africa