Non Governmental Organisations

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level. There are far too many NGOs at work in Africa to even begin naming them all. Can anyone name one? Examples Oxfam Christian Aid Save the Children

Positive 1 – Delivering aid when others cannot Q. Why might the UN struggle to get aid to areas controlled by Al-Shabaab in Somalia? The answer – because Western Aid is banned by them. They tell people it is better to starve than to accept help from the West. During the East African famine of 2011, the World Food Programme claimed they could not get aid to 2 million people Local NGOs working with expertise of local Somalis and even contacts within Al Shabaab were able to deliver aid when the UN were not able to. The UN could not work with Al Shabaab as it is illegal, under international anti-terror legislation to work with them in any way.

Positive 2. Working together to ‘Make Poverty History’ Make Poverty History involved many groups, including numerous NGOs, which formed to put pressure on the G8 on the following three areas during the UK’s Presidency of it: Trade Justice Drop the debt More and "better" aid One of the big successes, as we know, was the mass ‘forgiveness’ of many African countries debt in the wake of the campaign

Positive 3 – Working with local populations Among the key advantages that NGOs offer are the fact that they engender more trust in local populations than the intervention of foreign governments Christian Aid work with over 50 local groups across the continent who in turn have excellent local knowledge This is the kind of intimate knowledge of areas that is essential if aid is to be delivered effectively

Positive 4 – Speed of Response (in areas of danger) NGOs can also respond much quicker to sudden disasters than governments can, who have to go through parliament or civil servants before aid can be sent. They do not have the same level of bureaucracy that governments have in terms of deciding when/were/how to respond In 2011, around 12 million people in the Horn of Africa were in need of food aid, with over a quarter of a million people dying in Somalia alone Watch the video then read the note on the East African famine and take notes on:video 1) The problem identified by Oxfam and Save the Children 2) The consequences of the problem 3) What the two NGOs call for in the future

Negative 1 – Exaggerating/Not Understanding the problem An example of this is a food crisis that occurred in Niger in Niger's president accused international food agencies of exaggerating his country's problems and painting them in a simplistic way The international media portrayed Niger's crisis as a sudden, acute one to drum up funding for NGOs In actual fact, Niger's population was experiencing chronic malnutrition that had resulted from years of scarcity and rising prices. This sort of example often results in excessive short-term giving and little attention paid to the chronic conditions that created the crisis in the first place.

Negative 2 – A Drop in the Ocean Another criticism is that what they contribute is a mere drop in the ocean, with the total cash raised by such organisations less than 10% of official aid. Governments and multi lateral organisations (such as the UN) are much better equipped to help financially and the finances at their disposal can make much more of a difference in the long term than anything NGOs can do. Debt cancellation for example, although indirectly influenced by NGOs, can only be achieved by countries or large scale organisations

Negative 3 – Undermining governments, lack of accountability and easing pressure for reform NGOs have also been accused of undermining the state in developing countries. The Zimbabwean government is continually complaining that NGOs in the country promote agendas that are not in keeping with their own Who do NGOs answer to? Governments answer to their citizens, but NGOs can act without anyone holding them to account Also pressure for reform is eased Where resources are more and more channelled through NGOs to provide services and infrastructure, it becomes a common perception that this is how it should be, easing pressure for reform in corrupt countries.

Negative 4 – Evidence of change? What impact have NGOs had on reducing poverty? While NGOs would argue that they have made significant gains by providing services such as water and health care, critics would say that it is hard to show any statistics that back the claim they have had any impact at all. In addition to this, as the type of aid starts to change from water-wells and the building of roads to the promotion of social change such as governmental reform, it becomes even more difficult to measure success of individual NGOs

Read the case studies from pages As you read them take notes on: 1) Evidence of how the NGOs in question helped deliver aid 2) How you think this will have a positive impact on development