UNIT 3 ISSUES IN NGO MANAGEMENT

Objectives
After reading this Unit you will be able to: understand the issues posing challenges to PTGO management; discuss the development issues; and discuss the relationship between poverty and development.

Structure
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10
3.11

Introduction Understanding the Context Aid to Development Poverty and Development Poverty and Exploitation Poverty and Vulnerability Poverty and Powerlessness Dependency to Sustainability Development Indicators Summary Self Assessment Questions Appendix Case Study from Asian Development Bank (ADB)

3.1 INTRODUCTION
This Unit will introduce you to various issues that need to be considered in the management of NGOs. As we have seen earlier, the NGO is different to a normal profit making company where a11 it needs to be concerned about is the production process and handling machines for profits to be made. It is not as simple as this as there are a number of issues a commercial company must face. But the NGO faces some complex issues from the socio-economic and political environment outside as well as issues from within its own set-up. Service is the hal!mark of a NGOs performance and therefore it is normally where such service is needed that NGOs will work. The poor are normally the communities NGOs usually serve. The challenges that poverty present are da ting. Along with poverty are other factors that need to be understood in order to tac e the situation successfully. There are a number of issues and helpful studies that have been undertaken and we will consider some of these in this Unit.

Issues in NGO

3.2 UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT

Social, legal, financial, environmental, and other issues are growing increasingly complex and offer a challenge to NGOs to manage their organisations while keeping their mission in focus. They frequently face issues that not only require practical management expertise but also a knowledge and sensitivity to their contexts. You will hear such terms as socioeconomic or even sociopolitical factors and even environmental factors. Our people live in such complex contexts and it is important for an NGO to consider them. NGOs engaged in community development do not merely deal with people in the community; there are numerous related factors. Local community dynamics must be studied, legal and local governmental aspects should be followed, environmental and sociocultural issues must be taken into consideration and now in recent years there is a growing emphasis on human rights and gender issues. NGO leaders and teams will need to have the knowledge and skills necgssary to work amid people encountering such varied forces in the field. The NGO manager must be able to understand these complex intertwining issues and frequently handle out of the ordinary decisions. There is a crying need for various aspects of management knowledge and skills to handle the NGO environment while making decisions. You will be introduced to some of the issues. The issues we will be discussing in this unit are
i)

Management

Poverty and Development Aid and Development Dependency and Sustainability

ii)
iii)

vi) Development indicators

3.3 AID TO DEVELOPMENT

Most of what we know as "social service" in the early days was aid to help people in need. There were feeding programs, grants of money for people in need and other such charitable acts. In fact these groups were some of the first NGOs. We cannot wholly dismiss such agencies as there are times when there is need and the only way to help is to give money or material to bring relief. But development is much more.
f

Gradually we saw the emergence of relief and welfare organizations. These became active during calamities and catastrophes and many people gave small and large donations to help. For instance, when Bangladesh had its first major cyclone in 1974 many international organizations rushed in to help Volunteers, 'brought food, clothing, money and other materials to help the suffering: While this was good and much needed, it bred many ills that were hard to handle. For insrpnce, soon there was corruption with some middle men becoming rich and the poor not receiving what was rightfully meant for them. Clothing, milk powder, blankets etc were sold in the open market. However, you will find that many of these o~,:anizationshave moved much further today and involved in what is referred to as "development". Worldvision started by just helping Korean orphans, but today has grown to handling major-development projects. They moved from merely relief to handling development. But what is the difference? As the words imply, relief is temporary effort through immediate interventions, compassionate and welfare activities and provision of materials and services, but development is gn ongoing process.

Let us try to understand this shift to development.We normally use the word "development" when we speak of improvement, growth, progress, advance etc. We speak of a child

Concepts

Functians

NGOs

developing in the s e q ~f ~ iw-ea~/ng hisher stature, ~ a p a ~ OF i perf8rrnanaa. t~ OimiIal+. whgn we arg eag?@$d in 486ipl action we would like tn see d@vel~pm@rtt In tar~ns off::.Prqgress or imprvem~nt gdvancement towards @me independenee in their otriv;i.g f ~ improve!nenl r tpw~dq ~ea~ipnably acceptable stand@~da of. livin@~ennsmlcellyc; ?d swia! ly. In this sense, the aim ~3f d~~@lopment is to h ~ l people p become mature, more self-reliant, developing their capaaitiesto handle their conditions and to become productive. Ultimately the aim is to improve the quality of life for individuals, families, communities and countries as a whole. The indication of true development is when improvement is seen in people responsible for their own food, housing, health, education, employment and abovg assured of their security. t e v e l o p ~ ~and p t therefore setting t b ~ NGOs face an enormous task in bfipging a h o ~d process going. here are varjou, n$Qsyrpq b e i ~ g ~mpl~ygrJ tpday throqph training gf individuals arid communities @r self~help iniliatiye,s@all~s~al@, self-reliavtdevoltlpment projects, cooper${jyes, employple~t o p p h n i t i c el@ within their own eentQzt5. Although ec~nomic developm~? appears to he thg gnal ~fevowzl$ady3 it is the ehrlnge in wttltudes that is mast reqpired: Therefore when NQQs speak &out devalepmont it ir mere tksn just economic devel~pment. It is a trasqhwatien sf so~ial, e~~nom @11vi~onmenta1 i~, and cultural conditions through changed attitudeq. T h e r ~ f ~ whan m , we npeak sfdeveloping a community it i s the process or effort of buildiqp people Broups an a l a d level with to transform their capacitiesto handlg their-social r e l a t i ~ o s h ithelr ~ ~ , basic economy, improve their surroundings, and in fact overall strive for a better quality of life.

development agency which works with the poor and marginalised people of India.

v Our vision is a world without poverty and injustice, one in which ~ y g wmgn, man and girl and boy enjoy the right to life with dignity.

afid e gqperienae and sday We partner local organizations, who have the h ~ w l e d @ the confidence of the poor and margiflplli~~d ggmmunitiee we wnrk wlth,
Our mission is to work with poor and gxplyded wqmen, men and ~ i r l n and beys to eradicate poverty, discrimina{i~q md id~q{i~~: The people we work with inclu4e the &lit or~d tribal people, other ~ectlana of the rural and urban poor, women, childrgnl and min~ritiep? Wlthln theaa gmupr, our fpcus js qn people in vulnemkle sitlrations such m pe~ple living wjth ekonic hunger,

I.

Make o list ef all the development issues they handle.

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3.4 POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT

Most of us will look at poverty in terms of money, property, perhaps education etc and that may be what you have put into your definition. Now you are ready to see some other vital aspects in the understanding of poverty. In the 1960s, the maill focus in discussions on poverty was on the level of incomes of individuals and families and hence it was measured in monetary terms. Even today the World Bank will often speak about the poverty in terms of incomes of dollars per day. But is poverty simply about the level of income obtained by households or individuals? Being convinced that it is not, practitioners look at poverty more holistically. Although poverty may basically be tied to monetary matters, the one thing that happens is that because of the lack of money the poor do not have access to many things that the richer are able to get. Poverty is therefore "lack of access" for example to social services that others enjoy. Because of lack of money, the poor are exploited. Many times they meekly surrender to the whims of the rich bosses. Poverty is about being Powerless. Therefore, you can see how much more poverty is than merely lacking money. It is now or political factors. Let us briefly consider how the understanding of poverty has evolved over the decades:

Issues in NGO Management

coming on "relative deprivation" and this helped redefine poverty: "not just as a failure to meet minimum nutrition or subsistence, levels; but rather as a failure to keep up with the accepted standards in a society. There are large disparties in these levels. The shift broadened the concept of income-poverty to a wider set of 'basic needs', including those lack of access to health, education and other services. New perspectives were added in the 1980s. The main changes were: a) b) c)

The incorporation of non-monetary aspects, Vulnerabilityof the poor to seasonal hazards -cyclone, drought, heavy rains.
A broadening of the concept to speak of livelihood. Soon the term used was sustainable livelihood. Theoretical work by Amartya Sen, who had earlier contributed the notion of food entitlement, or access, emphasised that income was onlyvaluable in'sofar as it increased the 'capabilities' o f individuals and thereby permitted fjunctionings '

d)

e)

Finally, in the 1980s there was a rapid increase in the study of gender. Policies followed to empower women to be agents of development.
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The following terms are used to describe poverty:

& Functions of Concep~ t s NGOs

Income or consumption poverty Human (under)development Social exclusion 111-being (Lack

08 capability

and functioning

Vulnerability Livelihood unsustainability Lack of basic needs Relative deprivation

3.5 POVERTYAND EXPLOITATION

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Mahatma Gandhi said, as we are often reminded - "There's enough on this planet foc everyone's needs but not for everyone's greed." Greed leads to exploitat1011 and this is where the poor are further victimized. With recent consumerist trcnds human greed increases, and this widens the gap between the rich and the poor in some nations and is bringing about an imbalance on a larger scale between tlie nations in the world. Issues of justice are coming into consideration. Till recently it was colnrnon to speak of the necd for economic "dcvelopmcnt" anlong "backwardy'nations. India was a poor country! The assuniptio~l bellind tl~is lang~~age was that all nations c o ~ ~ l d that Western-style industrialization was the model of progress, all<! be judged in relation to the West. Poor nations were poor beca~~se tiley were in need of to helpdevelopment. They needed economic assistance from more "devclopctl" ~lntions them develop. The "rich" made lit~ge donations to tlie poor but I:atl ~I;:LIICI~?\ oftileir ow11 in doing so. Naturally, such "generosity" gave them an upper h.11ici , ~ n d ;:+be roonl for exploitation.
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In the mid-60s there were some major movements that opposed thi:, ,i~c;dcl of clci elopment. One ofthern occurred pri~narily among social thinkers in the Third ?Vorld, csj)ccially Latin 1'1:cq co~lfcnded America, who began toreject the idea ofdevelopment for that of Iibc~~i~ion. that poor countries were poor because they llad been exploited. LVcstcrii ~c?!~:nizing countries had stripped the colonized countries of thcir wcaldl, using cheap oi sl:tvc I'lbor, inorder to build up the wealth wliicli now has resulted i n Westcrrl cr~pitalisnl. Even poverty is now being defined in terms of illjustice. 'The rich are ric!i ~L..L;I:,c [hey have stripped the poorer ones oftheir wealtli and exploited their weakness fl>~-oi~?I~ i~nji~st practices. While tlie discussions can be elaborated upon in relation to the rich '+Vest (often referred to as theNorth) and the poorer countries we see sush exploitation and i~qustice right here in India. The gap between the rich and the poor in somc parts of the country are glaring. The poor are suppressed and rnadc to remain poor so that the rich can ;tijoy. Social injustice is an important study for theNGO community. It is a concept relating to the perceived unfairness or injustice of a society in its divisions of rich and the poor. The manifestations are in issues of wages and labour, fair price, gender distinctions, etc. NGOs are taking up such issues in a big way and fighting foijustic towards the pool: the tribals, women and children etc. NGOs can intervene in various ways. 0 1 1 :of the best tools to provide is education. As access to education is limited and anything they receive is substandard, non-formal education could be introduced. 'These sliould be flexible programmes as tlie drop out rate arnong Dalits and especially girls is very high. Such programmes sho~ildilitegraie iessons in

health and hygiene, basic crafts, better lifestyle and values, responsible citizenship including rights and responsibilities etc. There are various existing Dalit groups through which such programmes could be introduced. The Government has planned a number of welfare schemes for the development of the Dalit communities and NGOs could tap funds from here. There is a wide open door for service.

Issues in NGO Management

3.6 POVERTYAND VULNERABILITY

The poor, because of their poverty, are extremely vumerable and therefore get ensnared into ~ommercialexploitation. You will read two case studies below. One on human trafficking and the other on organ transplant racket. Note how the poor are trapped and many times for paltry sums of money. Millions of people are enslaved through forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation from which they cannot free themselves. Such slavery is referred to as human trafficking

own countries. Most instances of forced labor are linked with unscrupulous employers taking advantage of loose laws to exploit vulnerable workers. These workers are made more vulnerable to forced labor practices because of unemployment, poverty, crime, discrimination, corruption, political conflict, and cultural acceptance of the practice. Immigrants are particularly targets. The U.S. State Dept. 'Trafficking in Persons Report' stated that, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) is a destination country for men, women and children trafficked primarily from South and East Asia and the former Soviet Union for the purposes of sexual and labor Although prostitution and drug related crimes are areas where such practices prevail, domestic workers may be trapped in slavery through the use of force or coercion, such as physical (including sexual) or emotional abuse. Children are particularly vulnerable to domestic abuse which occurs in private homes, and is often unregulated by public authorities. For example, there is great demand in some wealthier countries of Asia and the Persian Gulf for domestic servants who sometimes fall victim to conditions of involuntary servitude. Indian, Indonesian and Phillipino workers are in plenty. Child Labor is another area. Most international organizations and national laws indicate that children may legally engage in light work. Bur even this allowance of "light" work is exploited with the worst forms of child labor prevailing allover the world. The sale and trafficking of children and their exploitation in bonded and forced labor are particularly Read the followingNews item which interlinks HIV and AIDS to human trafficking.
(A W D P News i t e m Jan 5,2008)

The study, which was launched here today, has found that a large number of those at the risk of being trafficked in South Asia are young girls and women and they also run the risk of getting infected with HIV. The highest reported incidence of this double burden is in Nepal, Bangladesh and India, the study said. Factors such as gender inequality, violence and lack of economic opportunitiesfor women increase their risk to both trafficking and HIV.Younger girls are at higher risk of trafficking as well as HIV. According to recent studies by Harvard School of Public Health; in Murnbai one quarter of the trafficked individuals tested positive for HIV while in Nepal, it was

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Weak governance makes the poor vulnerable to the risk of being trafficked. The absence of effective legislation and policies as well as poor Iaw enforcement and corruption contribute to this. Trafficking happens both within and across national borders. However, national governments and other stakeholders are yet to give this issue the priority it deserves, mainly because of the shortage of convincing data, the study said. "Information is available with regard to brothel-based sex work, but this reveals nothing about those who practice sex work in other settings," the study said, adding "researchers need to look beyond sex work, since those who are trafficked for other purposes also find themselves in situations that increase their vulnerability to HIV. The clandestine nature ofthe phenomenon, criminal linkages and the cross-border spread mask the scale of the problem." Titled "Human Trafficking and HIV: Exploring Vulnerabilities and Responses in South Asia," the analysis in this report is based on rapid assessment studies conducted in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan between 2004 and 2005. These studies explored the links between human trafficking, migration and H N / AIDS in these countries and reviewed available data, the national laws, policies, strategies and responses. To address human trafficking and HIV/AIDS the study recommends better coordination in national efforts to address both issues, which are often dealt

"One of the fundamental weaknesses i l l explaining and exploring the linkages between trafficking and HIV is lack of adequate data," said Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Resio~ial HIV/AIDS Team Leader and Programme Cooridnator for Asia Pacific, L'NDP Regional HIV and Development Programme. With Harvard School ofpublic Health, the Regional Programme is initiating a three-country research study on the linkages between human trafficking and HIV in Asia, she said.

b.

What is the role ofNGOs in this sad plight of the poor? What can NGOs do to challenge the medical and legal institutions and injustices that prevail?

Issqes in NGO qanagement

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POVERTY AND POWERLESSNESS

Poverty is also defined in terms of lack of power. Power in these terms is to be s the degree of control one has over material, human, intellectual and financial r e s o u r b . ~ The rich enjoy a power or a freedom to make decisions. Very often, the rich tend to1 unjustly exploit the poor because they have power to do so. Poverty is powerlessness. ,
A ,

In preparation for the World Development Report 2000/ 2001 : "Attacking Poverty", e World Bank conducted a research study that brought together the experie~ices of crver 60,000 poor women and men from 60 countries around the world. The defining e x p e r i e k of poor people, the report stated, involve highly limited choices and an inability to make themselves heard or to influence or control what happens to them. Powerlessness results from multiple disadvantages (some we have seen above), which in combination, make it extremely difficult for poor people to escape poverty. The report affirmed that insecurity of life had increased and they have not been able to take advantage of new opportunities because of corruption and a lack of connections, assets, finance, info?mation, and skills. We will basically need to confront such structures in our social, economic and political systems. NGOs who attempt to tackle the roots of poverty are frequently attacked by the powerful. These power brokers may be politicians who want their power because they want control over the poor. Or they may be the wealthy landlords who require the poor to provide cheap labour. Unjust power relationships are systematically imposed in both rich and poor countries on the basis of gender, age, caste, class or even education. Unjust power relationships also lead to deprivation of basic human rights for the poor. Human rights, according to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled" These include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom oqthought and expression, and equality before the law, and social, cultural and economic ribhts, such as the right to participate in culture, the right to work, and the right to eduqation. We can see how poverty can easily lead to the deprivation of such basic rights anh the poor become more and more powerless. NGO communities must not merely be engaged in feeding the poor or providing monetary packages for temporary relief. There are some revolutionary attempts like Bangladesh's Nobel Prize winner and his microfinance programmes which have lifted women out of powerlessness to become decision makers in their communities. We can begin restoring power by engaging in fblfilling the right ofthe poor to education, to good health, the right to a clean environment etc.

3.8 DEPENDENCY TO SUSTAINABILITY

You have read above about the gradual shift that NGOs have been making from s service, welfare and reliefactivities on to development. TheNGO community has ma in their understanding of various issues in development. A more recent intruder into jargon has been "sustainability". We attempt to explore the term.

Concepts & Functions of

NGOs

l h e concept came into general use following publication of the report of the United Nation's Brundtland Commission 1987. This was through the World Commission on Environment and Development or WCED. Sustainable development soon became a buzz word. World leaders were getting concerned that energy and resources were being overutilized and would not last very long. The strain on the earth was intensifying. Nations were called to adopt sustainable development measures. According to the WCED, sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generatio~ls to meet their own needs." In other words humans must not consulne the earth's resources as if there is an endless supply. We must think of future generations. The essence of this form of development is a healthy relationship between human activities and the natural resources, a relationship which considers that future generations must also enjoy a quality of life at least as good as our own. The goal of environmental sustainability is to arrest environmental degradation, and to halt and reverse the processes leading to disaster. Sustainable development is concerned with maintaining a delicate balance between the human need to maintain lifestyles and well-being on one hand, but also preserving natural resources and ecosystems in order th@ future generations depend. The term refers to achieving economic and social development in ways that do not exhaust a country's natural resources. Sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues, and encompass three general policy areas: economic, environmental and social. In support of this, several United Nations texts, most recently the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, refer to the "interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars" of sustainable development as economic development, social development, and environmental protection. The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO, 200 1) added another area "cultural diversity". Here development is understood not simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence. Cultural diversity is the fourth policy area of sustainable development. Therefore sustainable development is a holistic socio-economic-ecological process bringing about the fulfillment of human needs while maintaining the quality ofthe natural environment indefinitely for future generations.
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7 -

Environment and the Poor

In India, the majority of the poor lives in rural areas and depends directly on natural resources and ecological services for their livelihoods. Over 60 percent of the country's workforce depends on agriculture, fisheries and forests for their I ivel ihood. The loss of this resource naturally leads to poverty. UNDP in a document entitled "The Poverty and Environment Nexus" records that there are about 100 million people in the country who live in and around forests and another 275 million for whom forests constitute an important source of livelihood. Gathering of fuel wood, fodder and non-timber forest products from forests is an important subsistence and economic activity, particularly for women. Similarly, on the Indian coast, the densest coastal region in the world, a large population dep,nds pr?marily on fishing for livelihood as well as nutrition. Over the last two decades, the availability of natural resources to rural communities and especially to the poor has been affected severely and there could be several contributing factors. One of these is the natural impacts we have seen in recent decades through changing ecological patterns. Apart from the changing patterns, there are also unexpected, calamities like floods and drought. The tsunami that hit Asia recently has devastated the lives of millions of poor. The already deprived are unable to cope with such shocks asJ they exist on meager resource bases.

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BHeus-~ m 0 k Skkim$- faceor is tile exploitation of these resources by commercial par^. ,s bilk V~;'LYd~J\lje compensit;o~llo tlie poor. Large and small scale co~nmercial opcr, :?;I: ba~,,b:, Cavernments allti by Corporates are causing havoc to tliese people. Worn! . arc tlic piimn.j victims of deforestation and declining water tables and these have led to further compli.cations. With tlie cratiitional role of women in nalural resource management these v~~lnerabilities are boi~nti to increase. We have seen movements sucli as chipko and the Nar~nada Bachao AndoIan which have tried to mobilize national and actions. international pressure on sucli unscr~~pulous

Issues in NGO
Management

Development experts began lo study poverty systematically and "indicators" were needed for such studies. Indictors are basically measures. They indicate progress (or lack oil toward a goal or result. To stud) poverty, these indicators are items as salary, work, food, housing, health and education. Indicators should be used to monitor progress towards the goals at varioi~sstages. Noarmally, development indicators are based on factors that relate to well being, economic productivity and the environmental sustainability of the resource base populations depend on for their livelihoods. Typical indicators are based on poverij levels, access to basic services sucli as sanitation, water and health care, econom:~ productivity, income distribution, educational levcls, and so on. These indicators ofteir vary on'tlie basis of gender, caste, community or other factors within regions. Sonie indicators are more measurable than others. For instance it is easy to measure income levels but it is hard to measure livelihood or wellbeing. Also, we niay measiire ~ 0 i i ~ ~ m p t io 0r 11 food but tliis does not give us tlie true picture because of v a r i o ~ s factors. How 1;1r,ci1is tile mi~iiniumco~isumption? Tlie intake varies with our bodies, age, gender, a c t i ~ ; r i . Iarcl and environmental cooditions.

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Miller~nlitinnlECVC;G,,LLL~~LL Goals

Tlie Millennii~n.Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in September 2000 ago by tlic I J h as human developmelit indicators for building a better world. Tlie MDCs represent a global partnership tliat has grown from the commit~nents and ta1gcl.s cstabiisilc.2 at tlie world summits of tlie 1990s. The MDGs are eight goals to LC sciiiLvcd by 201 5 that respond to tlie world's main development clialle~~gcs. l'licq are drawn from tlie actions and targets c o ~ i ~ ; ~ i ~ in l c tlie cl Millen~~ii~m Declaratio~,tila! was adopted by 189 nations-and c~gnctlI,y 147 heads of state and governments.

Tlie eight Millcnriiil~nD<velopmcnt Cioals build on agreements made at IJnited Nations confercncc> ill the I 990s and represent commitments to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and c~ivironmentaldegradation. India has committed to attaining tlie MDGs by tlie year 201 5, but whether this is possible is another question. The MDGs are a set o f numerical and time-bound targets related to key acliievernents in human development. As we are discussing azvelopment, it must be noted that in this context the MDGs constitute tlie niost widely-accepted yardstick ofefforts made and policies implemented by governments, donors, and non-governmental organizations. For a developing country such as Jndia tlie MDGs provide a strong motivation as we need to be linked with the world. Tlie attainment of these targets in India is vital not only for human development and economic growth within tlie country, but are critical for reaching the MDGs worldwide.

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Concepts & Functions of NGOs

aga inst this backdrop, that the World Bank New Delhi office hosted a workshop entitled "Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in India: Role of Public Policy and Service Delivery" in June 2004. The objective of this conference was to provide national and international perspectives on the challenges facing India's attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The conference featured the presentation of a recent World Bank report entitled" 'Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in India' and showcased the vision of the country's key policy makers for attaining these goals.
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The conference also provided a glimpse of the 10th Plan roadmap to achieving the MDGs, an overview ofthe United Nations' support to these goals, and views of key policymakers in this area. Concrete examples of policy interventions for achieving the MDGs in India were discussed through case studies Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV I AIDS, malaria and othek diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
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b

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Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Activity 4

Are NGOs able to address the MDGs through their programmes? What kind of assistance is required from Governments and international agencies?

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SUMMARY
his unit takes into consideration the issues, whikh need to be addressed by NGOs to make them proactive and become change agents for the society at large. It is important to understand the underlying issues such as poverty, dependency and sustainability. This unit expbres the relationship between poverty and development through various case studies in tura giving a practical undersanding of the whole concept.

SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
1.

List the key development issues that in our country faces. What socio-political and economic problems do you encounter in operating as an NGO? Write a note on some other initiatives to tackle such issues in your context. What is your NGO able to do to become more proactive in being change agents in our country?

2.
3.
4.

Management

CASE STUDY Lessons Learned from Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Change Agenda, formulated during the 2004 ADB Water Week.

Globally, there are around 1.1 billion people without access to safe water supply, and 2.4 without adequate sanitation. Of these, around 700 million without water supply and 2 billion without adequate sanitation live in the Asia and Pacific region. The problem is particularly grave and pressing in the rural areas where 70% of the world's poor reside. Efforts undertaken and investments made for the development of the rural water and sanitation sector in the past were either limited or plagued by various problems. ADB's Change Agenda, formulated during the 2004 ADB Water Week, calls for increased investments in the rural areas to overcome its inherent disadvantages, e.g. rural areas are dispersed and often difficult to reach as infrastructure is less developed to generate the required economic and financial returns on investments. ADB recently announced a major new initiative that wills double its investment in the region's water sector in 2006-20 10. Using new financing modalities, products, and processes, the Water Financing Program (WFP) intends to increase ADB investments in the sector to over $2 billion annually, focusing them on three dimensions of water-rural water, urban water, and basin water. Under the WFP's rural water track, ADB will work on services to improve health and livelihoods in rural communities, including investments in water supply and sanitation, and irrigation and drainage. In late 2005, ADB commissioned a study on the extent of civil society (CS) engagement in rural water supply projects. Civil society has been directly and indirectly filling some gaps in rural water supply and sanitation, using a variety of participatory tools, methodologies, and strategies to deliver the necessary services. The study focused on different CSO-led initiatives in the region that showcase successful and sustainability. Four of tllese-one each from Bangladesh, project imple~~lentation India, Nepal, and the Philippines-help formulate possible models for civil society engagement in rural water supply and sanitation services.

Lessons.Ji.om this case show that

Partnerships arise from a deep need by the people for basic water and sanitation services. The formula for success may vary but it always involves the participation of local partners or CSOs, empowering the community through meaningful participation, support from the government, and assistance from donor agencies. Long-term partnerships of CS organizations in local projects tend to ensure functional and more sustainable systems. Investments in rural water supply and sanitation implemented with CS involvement positively impact oiher poverty reduction efforts. ADB expects to use the findings from this study to strengthen the WFP's program of action for rural water.

Concepts & Functions o f NGOs

NEPAL Country Water Action: Nepal

Making Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Gender-Sensitive and R-o-Poor (May 2006). Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH), a national-level non-government organization, provided safe water, improved sanitation, and better hygiene to rural areas in Nepal. NEWAtI boasts of a Gender and Poverty Approach (GAP) aimed at dissolving the disparities between women and men, and between tlie rich and the poor in Nepal's rural communities.
NEWAH'S "GAP" APPROACH

To intensify the gender and poverty mainstreaming strategies of its water, sanitation, and health education programs, the Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) institutionalized a Gender and Poverty (GAP) approach in its .interventions in Nepal's rural communities. The GAP approach addresses existing social inequities by increasing gender equality and social justice in rural water supply, sanitation, and hygiene projects. Five project sites in Nepal were used to pilot-test the GAP approach. As of July 2005, 1UEWAH has provided these project sites a total of 12,508 commi~nity tap stands. 4 1,484 domestic latrines, 181 school latrines, and 7 pitblic latrines. NEWAH has also trained and other community organizations. 14,879 members ofNGOs, women credit g~oups, NEWAH7sGAP approach was instrumental ill increasing wonien's and the poor's access to water supply and sanitation services, awareness on health issues and hygiene education participation in decision making processes and skills trainings, parliculal.ly in relation to tlie design, implementation, arid operation of the water supply, sanitation and hygiene project. NEWAH's experience showed that the richest and higher caste men domi~iated all aspects of access to water and sallitation delivery projects. This situation often excluded women, poor dalit (lowcaste), and indigenous peoples from any form of decision-making, training, and other benefits related to improved water and sanitation systems. Water systems predominantly controlled by male elites in Nepal often cause uncqual access to safe .drinking water between the better-off and the poorest socio-economic groups. More often than not, these male-led water projects prove to be i~nsustainable. NEWAH recognized that unless efforts are made to correct this partici~lar situation at the organizational and programme levels, poor women and men will continue to be deprived of the benefits of their water and sanitation projects.

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