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NGOs - What's Behind the Initials?
It is certainly not an exaggeration to say that the world-wide movement for human rights, nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources had its beginning in non-governmental organizations - NGOs. Many NGOs were founded to oppose plans for logging concessions, power stations or policies which neglected the feelings and needs of the local populations. An important root of the NGO movement was and continues to be the need to compensate for the lack of activities by governments. But what are NGOs? There is no international definition of an NGO and often even at national level, no definition or legal basis. There are many local groups like women's groups at village level, community development movements and self-help initiatives which are referred to as NGOs - and which consider themselves to be NGOs despite the fact that they do not have any legal status nor could they get it - simply because there is no legislation for NGOs at the national level. These two examples may be enough to illustrate how broad the spectrum of NGOs is. IUCN - The Wold Conservation Union is certainly an NGO. Its members are government authorities as well as private organizations. This leading international organization has hardly anything in common with groups like FUPAGEMA (Fundacion pare la Autosugestion y el Medio Ambiente), a small farmers initiative in the remote Andes of Bolvia. Most of FUPAGEMA's members are poor farmers, illiterates, the activities limited to one province. The prevailing idea is that NGOs do not earn a profit although this can be got round by setting up subsidiary companies which then donate money to the NGO. In some developing countries, international development agencies may pay higher salaries to their employees than does the government and may be better equipped than the ministry concerned. The only common denominator for all NGOs is, in fact that they are not government and do not primarily pursue commercial and profit-oriented aims. The panel above lists some of the strengths and weaknesses of NGOs which are not (or are to a lesser extent) present in government organizations. Of course, all these strengths and weaknesses are not often found in one NGO at the same time. There is a typical relationship between many NGOs and their funders. Most NGOs start with very small financial resources and very dedicated staff. Secure funding and relatively stable economic conditions almost inevitably lead to more bureaucracy and administration. Donor organizations can usually work only with organizations with a legal status and which are able to produce project proposals, to plan properly, and to handle budget administration and produce financial and technical reports regularly. Grass roots movements, in many if not most cases do not comply with these requirements and therefore have to build up their infrastructures. This often leads to a split in their once united team into the 'field people' and the 'office people', causing friction and envy and the risk that a 'grass root' NGO turns into an 'asphalt' programme. But even then, the 'office people' may remain closer to the grass roots than do government officials. Another option for co-operation between foreign donors and the grass roots movement is to involve a third partner and work through an already formally established NGO which officially manages the project. It then depends very much on how the NGO is playing its role, whether this construction does or does not seriously affect the self determination of the grass roots movement. There may be nothing wrong with all this but both recipient and donor should be aware of the dynamics they are likely to cause by developing institutions and projects. Sensibilities on both sides is therefore a basic requirement for any co-operation of private or government donors with recipient grass roots NGOs. Any project or co-operation in the fields of appropriate use of resources and of nature conservation is very likely if the local grassroot level is not actively participating from the beginning and throughout. There is a rapidly increasing number of examples where governments and NGOs co-operate in policy issues or specific projects and in sharing the work according to their needs and capabilities. In many more cases NGOs work without support from the government. NGOs can solve problems at the grass roots level and in areas where government should take action but does not do so because of lack of interest, lack of finances or an active decision not to get involved. Support from international donors for local NGOs brings a very important effect: people at the grassroot levels feel that they are not left alone with their problems and so get new hope. Appropriate funding allows activities and triggers motivation. [top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 35: How Much Can NGO’s Achieve
Categories: Boiling Point 35| NGOs | |||||||||
Page created:
17 August 2007; Last edited:
17 August 2007; Version: 0 | |||||||||
Pagename: NGOs-WhatsBehindTheInitials @HEDON: URGA | |||||||||
