Non-Governmental Organisations - Case Study Example

Non-Governmental Organisations The term Non- Governmental Organization can be used in several different ways. In general, it is used to refer an organization which does not directly form a part of the government. It is estimated that there are several millions of NGOs that are active across the world. The term Non Governmental Organization came into existence with the foundation of United Nation in 1945. In the United Nations charter, Article 71 of the chapter 10 gave a consultative role for organisations which are not a part of any government or member states. The importance of NGOs has drastically increased with globalization. General perception about international treaties and international organisations is that they give more importance to capitalistic enterprises. In an effort to correct this trend, international NGOs have started to highlight issues such as sustainable development, humanitarian issues and developmental aid. A well-known case is the World Social Forum which is a rival conference to the World Economic Forum. One can clearly observe three distinct stages in the development of NGOs since 1945. In the first stage, NGOs concentrated on relief and welfare; examples are delivery of shelter, food or health services. In the second stage they focused on self reliant, small scale local development. In the last stage, their attention shifted to striving hard to modify policies at local, national and at international level. NGOs play a crucial role in international development and these organisations have experienced a tremendous growth since1975. In 1992, they raised around $ 7.6 billion of aid to third world countries. Types of NGOs The term NGO is very wide and covers different types of organisations. The World Bank classifies NGOs into two categories: Operational NGOs and Advocacy NGOs. Operational NGOs: Their main objective is to plan and execute development related projects. The World Bank divides them into three groups: Community Based Organisations (CBOs), whose main purpose is to serve a specific population in a small area, National organisations, which are active in developing countries; and International organisations, which are based on developed countries and perform operations in developing countries. (Categorizing NGOs. World Bank Criteria: NGO World Bank Collaboration). In the 1970s and 80s, World Bank mainly associated with the international NGOs to carryout the developmental work in third world countries but recently there are lots of changes that have taken place in World Bank policies. World Bank, now, mainly associate with community based organisations for developmental activities in the third world countries. Community Based Organisations (CBOs), which are also called grass root organisations or people’s organisations, are different in character and purpose from other governmental organisations. CBOs are, generally, ‘membership’ organisations consisting of a group of individuals, they have come together to promote their own interests (E.g.: cooperatives, youth clubs etc), while international and national organisations are ‘intermediary’ NGOs which are formed to serve others. World Bank, generally, reach an agreement with national and international organisations to deliver services, plan projects or carryout research. Community Based Organisations are, generally, beneficiaries of project goods and services. They may be consulted, while designing the project to ensure that project goals reflect recipients’ interests. Many international and national organisations work in partnership with CBOs either to route developmental resources to ‘them or offer them with services or technical assistance.’ So, national or international NGOs play the role of ‘intermediary’ between CBOs and other organisations like World Bank. NGOs and Developing Countries: NGO play a very crucial role in the fields such as health, family planning, environment and education, democracy, population control etc in developing countries. They are very helpful in providing assistance to third world countries in developmental activities as most of the governments in developing countries lack resources and capacity. They also play very significant role in global health research and other activities. “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 70-95% health services in emergency situations are delivered by NGO.” (Crowe, June., Hodge, Gail. Repositories, Tools for NGOs involved in Public Health Activities in Developing Countries). NGOs contribute to health care systems of developing countries. Their services in developing initiatives in health care systems in developing countries have been quite appreciable. Further, they possess detailed knowledge of local conditions, and are highly effective in the rural populations, which the governments in developing countries tend to neglect. They play a crucial role from the grass root level to international level. Aahung, a prominent NGO which is active in Peshawar in Pakistan, is renowned for its work in Aids Awareness Programme. They also completed major projects known as Karachi Reproductive Health Projects (1995-99). Another renowned NGO in Pakistan ‘Agha Khan Health Services’ focuses on health care system in the areas such as northwest frontier province, Punjab, Sind, and Balochistan. It has undertaken two projects related to women, family health programme and reproductive health programme. It has seen that many countries in Asia and Africa have failed to provide relevant and quality education for socially and economically disadvantaged groups because of the lack of resources and political will. Several national and international NGOs emerged as an alternative and started imparting quality education in many of the developing countries. They are too numerous to be mentioned here. They have pro-poor orientation, innovation, flexibility, and cost effectiveness in their educational approach. They make it a special point to reach the drop-outs and non enrolled students of developing countries with a positive approach and render them assistance from international donor agencies. NGOs have a crucial role in family planning in developing countries especially those in Asia and Africa, where family planning system is too weak or unorganised. It has been seen that NGOs enjoy several advantages over public organisations in both responsiveness to clients needs and efficiency. Thailand has an all encompassing and heavily subsidized public-sector programme for family planning. Still, commercial outlets serve as important sources of contraceptive supplies and services. Many national and international NGOs, in association with United Nations and several other donor agencies, have contributed to significant progress in reducing poverty in developing countries. In one of the projects, NGOs in 12 nations, supported by United Nations, are engaged in initiatives to upgrade slums and squatter settlement, to improve infrastructure, increase provisions for water, drainage and sanitation and to develop more stable livelihoods. A table showing the details of the federations, their support to the NGOs and the source of their funding are appended as Annexure-I NGOs in policy formulation in developing countries: A Critical Assessment Now the question to be answered is up to what extent NGOs should involve in policy formulation and running projects in developing countries. The 1990s has seen a drastic increase in the number of both national and international organisations which are focused on developing countries. As most of the governments in the developing countries lack sufficient resources and political will for development and sustained growth, effective and efficient NGOs are inevitable for a developing country for their progress. They have the ability to experiment freely with novel projects and are always ready to take risks. Most of the NGOs can easily acclimatise to local situations and needs, and thereby they are able to plan and execute integrated projects. They can easily develop a bond with the local people and are able to provide micro-finance to the needy. It is also found that most of the NGOs can easily communicate with all levels of the society; from top to bottom. Another advantage of NGOs is that they can easily recruit both specialist and highly motivated staffs with fewer restrictions than the government. Moreover, if one looks at the advantages of NGOs over government, it is felt that they should play a prominent role in policy formulation. On the other hand, the financial resources of most of the NGOs are limited, as they depend upon outside financial resources. Since their financial resources are limited, they can neither cover large areas nor take up big projects. Sometimes, two or more NGOs work on same projects, in more or less same geographical area. It reduces the cooperation between NGOs and their activities may be viewed as competitive or threatening. While works of some of the NGOs are highly appreciable, there is also a necessity to critically examine their impact in the development process. Moreover, there is a tendency to idealise the role of NGOs in bringing out changes at the grass-root level. This is generally done at the expense of the government which is branded as ineffective. This analysis may be used to promote justification for privatisation and deregulation programme, thereby reducing the role of government in socio economic services. It is also difficult to understand how Non Governmental Organisations who are very active in scattered places can become effective in national level. Moreover, corruption is universal and no NGOs are free from it. Thus it is apparent that there are both advantages and disadvantages if NGOs participate in the policy formulation in developing countries. When weighing the pros and cons of the participation of NGOs in policy formulation in developing countries, it can be easily understood that unfettered by the limitations of governmental red tape and committed for a cause, NGOs are definitely more effective in executing developmental projects and should be given a say while formulating policies in developing countries. Supranational Organisations Supranational organisations are those organisations whose decisions are binding on all member states, irrespective of the fact that whether they agree or not. Some of the supranational organisations in the world are Security Council, United Nations General Assembly, WTO, International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice. World Bank World Bank is “made up of two unique development institutions owned by 185 countries –the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IRDB) and the International Development Association (IDA). Each institution plays a different but supportive role in their mission of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards.” (About Us. Working for a World Free of Poverty. Publications and Multimedia). The World Bank gives financial and technical assistance to developing countries across the world. “In addition to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, three other institutions are closely associated with the World Bank: the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). All five of these institutions together make up the World Bank Group.” (About Us. Organization. Working for a World Free of Poverty). World Bank is like a cooperative where its 185 member countries hold shares. It is governed by a board of governors who are the finance or development ministers of the member countries. Since they meet only once in a year, they assign the responsibilities to the 24 executive directors who are working in the bank. The five largest shareholders i.e. United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and France appoint an executive director while rest of the 19 executive directors are appointed by other member countries. The president of the World Bank, who is a nominee of the United States, presides over the meetings of the Board of directors and is responsible for overall management of the bank. The bank was founded on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of Bretton Woods agreement. The main activities of the World Bank are focused on areas such as agriculture and rural development, human development, infrastructure, environmental protection and governance in developing countries. The IBRD and IDA provide loans at nominal rates to member countries especially to the poor ones. While giving loans to countries the World Bank often insists upon policy changes in the sector or economy. The working of the World Bank has been subjected to lot of criticism recently. It has been accused of being a tool for developed countries for enforcing economic policies on developing countries to serve the interests of developed western countries. For example, it is proved that the free market reform policies are very harmful for the developing countries, and considered as advantageous to the developed countries. It is also alleged that in the name of improving infrastructure, sanitation, energy etc in the developing countries, American based companies which are out to make to profit, are plundering some of the poorest countries in the world. But the negative arguments aside, obviously the services being rendered seem to outweigh the drawbacks. IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and development was established in 1944. It is owned by185 member countries. It “aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries by promoting sustainable development through loans, guarantees, risk management products, and analytical and advisory services. IBRD is structured like a cooperative that is owned and operated for the benefit of its countries.” (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development [IBRD]). It raises its funds from capitalistic markets and uses the money for developmental activities across the world especially, in the middle income and poor countries in the world. IDA International Development Association was established in 1960 with a purpose to lend credits to world’s poorest nations and is a part of the World Bank. While IBRD serves the interests of the middle income countries, IDA helps the poorest countries across the world. IDA provides long term interest free loans to 81 poorest nations in the world. Members of the richest nation provide the necessary funds for IDA. IMF International Monitory Fund was established in 1944 and 184 countries across the world, are members in it. “It was established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; to foster economic growth and high levels of employment; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment.” (About the IMF. 700 19th St. NW, Washington, DC 20431). While the World Bank gives financial and technical assistance to developing countries across the world, IMF lends credits to member countries to face the balance of payment difficulties. The main work of the IMF can be divided into three areas. That is surveillance, financial assistance and technical assistance. In surveillance, IMF monitors the economic and financial developments in the member countries and provides policy advice to prevent crisis. The IMF also provides financial assistance to member countries to face the balance of payment difficulties. It also makes available member countries technical assistance and training in its areas of expertise. Developing countries generally tend to have governments which are not fully capable due to several constraints to fully stand up to their responsibilities in governance and satisfy the expectation of their citizens. Lack of funds is one of the major impediments in implementing various programmes that they have in mind. In some cases, non-availability of necessary expertise and trained and experienced human resource also hamper them. Added with these limitations is the indifference of bureaucracy in some of these countries. Under the circumstances, despite what criticism exists against them, the Non Governmental Organizations are indeed playing a major role in the developmental activities in these countries as can be seen from the tremendous progress countries like India and Pakistan have made. Annexure-I Details of the federations, their support NGOs, and their funds Federation Year founded Number of members Support NGO/ federation-managed funds INDIA: National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan 1974 and 1986 2 million plus SPARC (1984) Community-Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) SOUTH AFRICA: uMfelanda Wonye (South African Homeless People’s Federation) 1991   c. 100,000* Community Managed Resource Center The uTshani Fund (for housing), Inqolobane (The Granary) funds for employment/micro enterprise ZIMBABWE: The Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation 1993 c. 45,000* Dialogue on Shelter Gungano Fund NAMIBIA: Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia 1992 13,000 Namibian Housing Action Group (1997) Twahangana Fund (for land, services and income generation) with state funds for housing (Build Together Program) KENYA: Muungano wa Wanvijiji 2000 c. 25,000 Pamoja Trust (2000) Akiba Mashinani Trust MALAWI: Malawi federation 2003 20,000 CCODE – Center for Community Organization and Development Mchenga Urban Poor Fund SWAZILAND 2001   Peoples Dialogue, Swaziland THAILAND: Various regional and city-based federations 1990 Thousands of savings groups CODI – fund set up by the government of Thailand PHILIPPINES: Philippines Homeless People’s Federation 2003 50,000 Vincentian Missionaries Social Development Foundation Inc (VMSDFI) Urban Poor Development Fund SRI LANKA: Women’s Development Bank 1998 31,000 JANARULAKA Women’s Development Bank Federation CAMBODIA: Squatter and Urban Poor Federation 1994 Active in 200 slums Asian Coalition for Housing Rights Urban Poor Development Fund NEPAL: Nepal Mahila Ekta Samaj and Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj (women’s federation of savings groups) 1998   LUMANTI Nepal Urban Poor Fund A federation is also forming in Zambia, and savings groups that have the potential to form federations are being set up in many other nations, including Uganda, Ghana, Lesotho, Tanzania, and Madagascar.  There is also interest in the urban poor federation model in several other nations, including several Latin American nations. * These are both maximum figures.  Not surprisingly, activities in Zimbabwe have slowed considerably in the present climate.  The South African Federation has been facing particular challenges in recent years, and membership has fallen. Source: D’Cruz, Celine., Satterthwaite, David. (2006). Global Urban Development Magazine. Treating People and Communities as Assets. The Role of Urban Grassroots Organization and Their National Federations in Reducing Poverty and Achieving The Millennium Development Goals. Work Cited Categorizing NGOs. World Bank Criteria: NGO World Bank Collaboration. Retrieved March 3, 2007, from http://docs.lib.duke.edu/igo/guides/ngo/define.htm Crowe, June., Hodge, Gail. Repositories, Tools for NGOs involved in Public Health Activities in Developing Countries. Information International Associates, Inc., IIa, USA. Retrieved March 3, 2007, from http://www.greynet.org/images/GL7,_page_40.pdf About Us. Working for a World Free of Poverty. Publications and Multimedia. Retrieved March 3, 2007, from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,pagePK:50004410~piPK:36602~theSitePK:29708,00.html About Us. Organization. Working for a World Free of Poverty. Retrieved March 3, 2007, from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,contentMDK:20040580~menuPK:1696997~pagePK:51123644~piPK:329829~theSitePK:29708,00.html International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). Retrieved March 3, 2007, from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/EXTIBRD/0,,menuPK:3046081~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:3046012,00.html About the IMF. 700 19th St. NW, Washington, DC 20431. Retrieved March 3, 2007, from http://www.imf.org/external/about.htm D’Cruz, Celine., Satterthwaite, David. (2006). Global Urban Development Magazine. Treating People and Communities as Assets. The Role of Urban Grassroots Organization and Their National Federations in Reducing Poverty and Achieving The Millennium Development Goals. Retrieved March 3, 2007, from http://www.globalurban.org/GUDMag06Vol2Iss1/dCruz%20&%20Satterthwaite.htm Read More