KATHMANDU, Aug 8: Ten new INGOs have signed general agreement with the Social Welfare Council since the April 25 earthquake, while applications of nine others are under the process of being approved. The organizations are from the USA, the UK, India, France, Spain and the Netherlands, among other countires.
During the emergency situation immediately after the April 25 earthquake, the SWC had allowed many international organizations to carry out aid and rescue activities without signing general agreement."Considering the seriousness of the situation after the earthquake, we let the new INGOs to work in rescue and rehabilitation. But soon after the situation became manageable, we directed all the new INGOs on May 25 to sign general agreement if they wished continue their operations," informed Kishori Yadav, communications officer, at the Social Welfare Council.
Meanwhile, an official with the Council, Niranjana Thapa, said 19 new applicants in just three months period after the April 25 earthquake is an unusually high number.
As per the details made available by the SWC, most of the new INGOs have shown interest in working in the areas of health and education.
While 12 organizations have pledged to work for health and education, five have cited disaster response and humanitarian aid, four reconstruction and rehabilitation and two child rights as their working areas.
Out of the new INGOs, 11 have committed to work for a five-year period, whereas eight have expressed their wish to work for 3 years. While 17 of them have committed to send at least Rs 10.2 million, 2 others have promised to invest more than that.
"As per the rules, only 20% can be spent for administrative purposes while 80% should be set aside for project operations," informed Naranjana Thapa, an Official at SWC.
Communications Officer Yadav informed that the INGOs that have signed the agreement are free to choose the districts they want to work in, but they have to coordinate with the local authorities. "Also, they can't work directly as an independent organization without being affiliated to an NGO from Nepal," he added.
Most of the organizations have preferred to work in far flung villages in districts like Dhading, Solukhumbu, Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk.
Officials from ACTED, a French non-governmental organization that got recently registered at the SWC, on Thursday said that building shelters and providing food to the quake victims would be their priority. "We will be working to build shelters for the earthquake victims in the villages like Dolakha and Dhading, and also provide them with food," the official said.
Website of organizations like International Medical Corps say that they are working to help revitalize health service delivery and improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in the earthquake affected regions. Whereas others like VEERAYATAN, Concern Worldwide and Medicos Del Monde look no different in their stated working areas.
Currently there are 211 INGOs registered with the Social Welfare Council.
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