Lavish ways of NRCS
Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), which likes to call itself ‘the largest humanitarian organization in Nepal’, has of late been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Its latest claim to infamy is its ‘yearly review meetings’ currently being held in Sauraha, Chitwan.
Senior NRCS officials have informed Republica that the organization is spending over Rs 7 million on this one event that is being held to review the organization’s work in health and disaster management areas. The organization, which runs on voluntary donations, has set aside Rs 480 million for various health and disaster-management projects in the 11 earthquake-hit districts. Interestingly, the yearly reviews are being held at an expensive resort—with combined weekly room charges alone amounting to Rs 3 million—in Chitwan even though NRCS has its own training center in Banepa, which has been designed precisely for this kind of gatherings. Another interesting thing is that the resort is charging the society Rs 4,000 for a room for a night, which is the going rate of top hotels in Sauraha during peak season. In this lean season, these same rooms can be had for as little as Rs 1,500 a day.
It is not hard to infer from this that NRCS top managers personally benefit from such dubious deals with the hotel. During such all-expenses-paid junkets, there are potentially endless avenues to milk the organization for personal benefit. These self-serving activities of our reputed humanitarian organizations give volunteerism a bad name. It also breeds cynicism among potential donors. When they see that their hard-earned money is being wasted, donors will be reluctant to pony up for even well-meaning causes in the future. What if there is another devastating earthquake and Nepal needs all the help it can get? If an organization with the rich tradition of NRCS, which has been around since 1963, can’t be trusted, how will potential donors trust others? Thus it is important for the society to come clean on accusations of foul play. A natural poor, disaster-prone country like Nepal, with its rather ineffectual bureaucracy, desperately needs humanitarian organizations like the NRCS.
But only if these organizations actually work in public interest. In order to make sure that they do, there is again no option but for the government to closely monitor the activities of these NGOs and ensure that they are meeting their social obligations. Thankfully, after repeated exposés of the unethical behaviors of NGOs, the government has recently drafted a bill with stringent provisions, including scrapping of the registration of any NGO that breaches the agreement it signed with the government, or if it is found involved in any kind of irregularity. This bill, which is currently with the Ministry of Finance for final approval, should be passed at the earliest. The NGOs operating in Nepal have long enjoyed favorable treatment. But at least some of them are misusing this government goodwill. Perhaps it is time to get a little tough.
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