I was recently in Kapilvastu for an assignment when we
stopped by the District Development Office. An officer there immediately gave
me a piece of my mind.
Pointing to two colleagues who accompanied us from a local
NGO, he said: “We have an employee here who is also engaged in this NGO in some
capacity. He was a former employee of the NGO, and now remains on the board as
a volunteer. He’s been presenting our work on citizenship as work done by the
NGO. To bideshis who come, it appears all this work is being done by the NGO
when in fact its his work he is paid to do, as a government employee! Can you
imagine? And this is how fundraising is done—taking the work of government
agencies and passing it off as the work of NGOs!”
My colleages from the
NGO nodded politely and didn’t contradict him at this point. Later in the jeep
they told me that they had been doing this work of getting citizenship papers
to their constituency for a long time, and it wasn’t that the man in question
was taking credit for government work and inserting it into the NGO report, but
that in reality they were engaged in this work on their own initiative. Another
colleague said this inclusion of government assignment into the NGO report was
a form of politeness, and a courtesy to the government not to make them feel
left out. The government officials scoffed at this and said that this was NGO
cunning rather than a courtesy. The NGO workers also pointed out that
government offices and officials were inefficient and underfunded, and they had
a much larger and dedicated presence in the field than the government ever
could.
And this, in a nutshell, seemed to be the crux of the
problem. There are over 300 reigstered NGOs in Kapilvastu. About 8 of them work
actively in the field, and are receiving generous funds. According to the
officer at the Woman Development Office, NGOs receive up to 5 crores (500,000
dollars.) Add that up for 8 NGOs and you get around 4 million dollars. “Our
budget is 2 crores,” the Women Development Office’s officials said. In other
words, the government agency that deals with women’s issues gets $200,000, and
remains understaffed and underfunded, while NGOs get the lion’s share of the
funding.
It is clear the Nepali Government is inefficient, corrupt as
well as inept. NGOs in general have provided much needed services to
underfunded and marginalized communities in a much more dedicated fashion. And
yet, we should question whether this model is sustainable in the long run.
Eventually the INGOs funding the NGOs will “phase out,” at some point or
another, and the very same people working in NGOs will one day have to take
over the reigns of government. Perhaps the time has come for the INGO and donor
movement to think about ways in which NGOs can work together—instead of in
opposition—to a weakened and debilitated government.
It is clear that the Nepali Government is not inclusive.
Almost all the officials at the government ministries were Pahadis, in a
Madeshi area. Without the inclusivity in hiring, the government will come to be
seen as an interloper and a competitor for funding. The donors and INGOs can
help change this by providing incentives to
the government to hire locals in the areas in which they operate.
In addition, they
should also think about ways in which work done by the NGOs could be better
integrated with the work being done by the government. In the same DDC office,
we learnt that one of the village development committees had been declared a
“violence free zone”, that monitoring committees had been set up to take note
of incidents of violence and to compile them for future reference that would be
kept at the VDC level. In addition, local officials had also met with parties
engaged in incidents of violence and as far as possible tried to provide
justice. “We also took a government lawyer with us who provided advice,” he
said.
The official who explained this process to me presented it
to me in a systematic fashion, and in a methodical way proceeded to tell me how
violence could be eradicated. Government, of course, functions, in just such a
systematic manner—which the piecemeal and hot-button fashion of work done by
NGOs cannot replicate. And if we are to truly engage in ending violence against
women, the government has to step up and create a system in which it can be
checked, controlled and eventually eradicated.
Government officials, formerly apathetic and lackadaisical,
appeared to be engaged, at least on the intellectual level, with this issue. My
sense is that the funding received by NGOs is suddenly motivating formerly
apathetic and obstructionist beaureaucrats to be cooperative, as they realize
that working in a positive fashion could bring more resources and credit to
their offices, and that they are being left behind as NGOs show greater level
of dedication and commitment in bringing about active social change.
The Nepali Government needs to think about ways in which the
ministries that engage with social issues can receive adequate funding on par
with NGOs. And this means providing—and ensuring the funds reach—district and
local level branches of offices working to supporting the end of violence
against women. This means dedicating resources and funding to the Ministry of
Women and Children, and giving them a generous budget which can shift social
relations at the grassroots level.
Allocating budget is one thing, ensuring it gets to the
intended constituency is another. The meager funding allocated to each VDC for
women, Dalit and other minorities gets released only if the government
beaureaucrats gets a share of it. Clearly the solution is stronger grassroots
groups that can advocate for, and demand, their budget without giving a “cut”
to officials in the ministries. Some system of making budgets public would also
help in reducing corruption and ensuring the funds get to the right people.
Bypassing the government, which the donors have done, has
only led to the further weakening of an already weak system. The answer is not
to further weaken it by putting the NGOs in competition, but providing adequate
support on par with, and in collaboration with, NGOs working in social
movements.
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