I/NGOS in Nepal
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As per media reports, the government is all set to tighten its grip on activities of International Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). This is mainly due to the fact that most of these organizations have failed to maintain transparency with regard to their funding and its disbursement. Often, they commit to utilize funds in one sector, but end up spending them entirely for something else. Certain I/NGOs have also been indulging in sensitive activities related to ethnicity, regionalism and bilateral relations. Their activism, it is feared, could prove detrimental to Nepal's national interest if they are not controlled.
Thus it is welcome that some government agencies, including the Social Welfare Council, are developing strategy to curb suspicious activities of NGOs. This is essential because certain NGOs that were expected to spend their funds for the development are misappropriating them for religious conversion and other negative activities.
Over the years, I/NGOs in Nepal have mushroomed, particularly after the 1990 political change. Until 1990, only 253 NGOs were registered with Social Welfare Council (SWC), the umbrella organization for promotion, facilitation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of NGOs. Thanks to the liberal policy of post-1990 governments, the number of NGOs registered with SWC has grown to an astonishing 39,574 over the last two-and-half decades. Also, the number of the INGOs, which could be counted on fingertips in 1990, has shot up to 189.
Presently, INGOs that operate in Nepal are from 25 countries and provide some Rs 10 billion annually to NGOs. But neither the government nor the SWC has been able to control them. Most NGOs avoid giving details of their annual transactions to SWC. Lack of effective coordination, monitoring and evaluation by government agencies, including the SWC, has created such a mess.
We have the bitter experience of NGO activism in development projects. Vital hydropower projects such as 6000-MW Pancheshwar Project on the Mahakali River and 404-MW Arun III project of the World Bank in Sankhuwasabha district failed owing to hue and cry NGOs made in different national and international forums. The country had to bear great loss because of them. But there is so far no study to quantify the loss the country has incurred on account of irresponsible I/NGOs. However, we may learn something from India.
In India, it is estimated that involvement of certain NGOs in negative activities in the recent years has resulted in loss of 2.3 percent of country's GDP of two trillion US dollars. Indian NGOs receive foreign donations worth over IRs 10,000 crore each year. Such funds are made available to the NGOs by over 150 countries, including the US, Europe and UAE.
In its bid to streamline the NGOs, the government of India blacklisted 69 NGOs and prohibited them from receiving foreign funds under the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA). Of the 69 NGOs, 30 were either Christian or Islamic and were engaged in minority welfare activities in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujrat and Uttar Pradesh.
Additionally, the government of India also cancelled registration of 4,138 NGOs under the FCRA. Initially, India had served notices to over 31,000 NGOs and asked them to give details of their annual returns. The draconian step against NGOs was taken when they did not comply with government order.
Unfortunately, most I/NGOs working in the Third World countries are looked upon with suspicion due to lack of transparency in their approach. A study conducted by this author on INGOs working in the Tarai region of Nepal showed that their number ranged between 16 (minimum) in Rautahat to an average of 34 each in Jhapa, Kailali and Kanchanpur.
There are over a dozen INGOs working in many mountain districts like Mustang where the population is as low as 15,000. On average, there is one INGO for 1,000 population in Mustang! INGOs are literally flooding Nepal's mountain and hill districts. There were seven INGOs working in one Village Development Committee of a powerful politician in Dadeldhura district. But what have these I/NGOs done to change the life of the people in the mountains, hills and the plains? Virtually nothing. Poverty is still prevalent in Nepal and the country is seen as one of the least developed countries in the world.
However, not all I/NGOs are ill-reputed. Some of them have still maintained their credibility and have played pioneering role in supplementing governmental initiative to address problems of disadvantaged groups even in remote corners of the country. Some of them have made sincere effort in generating employment opportunities and also giving an impetus to social transformation through programs in areas like rural development; women empowerment; environmental protection; AIDS and drug abuse control; child welfare; educational and health services; youth activities; and handicapped and disabled services.
Nevertheless, screening I/NGOs is important to know about their source of funds and the areas in which such funds are spent. It will be disastrous if political parties, and by extension the government itself, allow themselves to be manipulated by I/NGOs.
Can Nepal reward genuine I/NGOs? Is it capable of punishing wrongdoers by cancelling their registration and preventing them from receiving or disbursing foreign funds? Only time will tell.
The author is the Executive Director of Centre for Economic and Technical Studies in Nepal
