The SWC currently charges NGOs and INGOs for mid-term and final evaluation of their respective projects as per the written commitment made while signing the project agreements. [break]
While the NGOs and INGOs had been grumbling quietly about this, donor agencies have registered their objection with the government, claiming that the practice is unfair. “We brought that (practice) to the attention of the government,” the Department for International Development (DfID) said.
Sources claimed the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare has already been directed to change the embarrassing practice. “We have yet to get any official complaint but have received informal complaints about the practice,” Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Mahendra Prasad Shrestha said.
But he said the ministry cannot do anything as the SWC is an autonomous body formed under the Social Welfare Act 1992. The Act enacted by the parliament in the 21st year of the reign of Late King Birendra has yet to be amended.
“We have drafted an amendment to the Act to make the duty and responsibility of SWC relevant in the present context,” assistant spokesperson at the ministry Ram Prasad Bhattarai said.
Bhattarai said the amendment would bring the SWC under the purview of the ministry but didn´t say whether it would scrap the practice. “The draft is currently in the Ministry of Law and Justice and we can´t reveal the clauses of amendment,” Bhattarai reasoned.
The SWC, meanwhile, defended the practice. “We charge NGOs and INGOs as per the written agreement signed with them and as far as I know they have no complaints whatsoever about it,” Director of SWC Raju Joshi argued.
The NGOs, however, expressed their unhappiness about the practice with myrepublica.com. “It is an existing practice that we are abiding by. A few donors have expressed reservations about it while others have accepted it,” an NGO operator said. “We think there should be some sort of reform regarding the practice,” he added.
SWC Director Joshi argued there is nothing wrong in making them pay as the evaluation is done on their projects. He also argued there is no possibility of compromise in the fairness of evaluation process due to the practice.
“We hire an independent evaluator and a financial expert who team up with a representative each from SWC and the ministry related with the project for evaluation,” Joshi stated. “The organizations deposit the amount in our account, and we pay to the experts, not the organizations themselves,” he reasoned.
premdhakal@myrepublica.com
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