Thursday, February 19, 2009

NGOs?

Almost every Nigerian knows what the acronym “NGOs” stands for, young and old, literate and illiterate alike. Why so? Well, besides being as a result of the involvement of NGOs [Non governmental organizations] in community issues since the pre-colonial era to the present day , their popularity is also attributable to their visible presence across the country not just in the urban areas but also in the rural areas, where a vast majority of the population reside.

So what really are NGOs anyway? Well first and clearly these are nongovernmental organizations, i.e. they are not affiliated to the government; and are simply task oriented non-profit, voluntary groups. These organizations perform a number of humanitarian and service functions across the country. They also make citizens concerns known to the government, encourage political participation in the country’s nascent democracy, and advocate and monitor policies.

During my years working with an NGO back home, I was always thrilled by the literal impact programs had on individuals and communities. One case in point was the impressive results we got when we embarked on a rural campaign geared towards convincing parents of children afflicted by polio, to enroll them in a special school program. This program required first, facilitative surgery for the afflicted child to enhance his/her motor movement before enrollment in the school. At first we were met with stiff opposition. Most of the parents refused to trust their children with “strangers” and were skeptical about any kind of surgery.

Eventually, we were gradually able to convince our proposed beneficiaries, and the program was even welcomed by neighboring communities. How did we achieve this feat? Virtually drawing on the strengths of a typical NGO. These included collaborating with the leaders of the host communities; aligning our programs’ operations to the norms and beliefs of the people; and impacting communities from the bottom-up, starting from the family level.

As many NGOs continue to tell their success stories across the nation, they are not spared of limitations. The multi faceted problem of budget constraints remains a constant threat in a number of ways. First, the lack of sufficient and sustainable funds often gets in the way of the execution of ideas, plans or projects, no matter how grand these may be. At some other times when NGOs have sought external funding, this has sometimes led to NGO activities that were tailored to meet the specifications of the funding bodies, with little or no considerations as to whether or not the proposed projects were pertinent to the communities’ needs. The resulting misappropriate programs naturally lead to conflicts between the concerned NGOs and the government. Unpleasant scenarios like these make it indispensable to have dynamic strategies for raising funds, as NGOs strive to keep up with the demands of being nonprofit oriented and relevant at the same time.

Also there is the absence of a comprehensive membership network for all presently existing NGOs. This often results in multiplicity or overlapping of programs. Amidst these constraints though, NGOs have continued to record commendable successes in community development/ enlightenment as well as policy advocacy issues.

In recent years following the advent of the country’s democracy, there has been a proliferation of NGOs across the country. While plans are being made to better regulate the activities of these organizations, I am hopeful that an atmosphere of urgency is adopted, before we hit a record count of between one and two million! - the estimated count of NGOs operative in India
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organization).

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