A non-governmental organization (NGO) is
a not-for-profit organization , charity based, Tex free that
is independent from states. A non-governmental organization (NGO) is
voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or
international level. Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest,
NGOs perform a variety of service and humanitarian functions, bring citizen
concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and encourage political
participation through provision of information. Some are organized around
specific issues, such as human rights, environment or health. They provide
analysis and expertise, serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and
implement international agreements. Their relationship with offices and
agencies of the United Nations system differs depending on their goals, their
venue and the mandate of a particular institution.
“Absence of accountability sometimes leads NGOs
to fund projects which end up achieving results directly opposed to what they
had originally aimed for”
By Khadim Durrani Quettawaal
NGO Mafia and their vacuous slogans
Introduction
The purpose of this article on one hand is to debunk the
altruism of NGO-mafia which is busy deceiving the poor communities of Pakistan
and, on the other hand, to reach out to the international/national donors and
the general public who are directly or indirectly involved in development
politics and policy design. It’s only through the involvement of the primary
and genuine stakeholders, in the various public fora, that we will be able to
galvanize the debate concerning widespread corruption in these NGOs, their
role, sources of funding, their accountability and above all the cardinal
question of representativity: ‘who they represent?’. In order to empower the
dispossessed and eradicate poverty, disempowerment of various active mafias,
including NGO one, is needed – something that should be sought by launching
anti-corruption campaigns across the country. This article is a small
contribution towards achieving that goal!
But before you read any further let me make it very clear that
only mafia NGOs are under the spotlight here and not those good but rare NGOs
which put their heart and soul into community projects; their actions are
commendable! In writing up these few pages I have found it difficult, emotionally,
to keep myself detached from the general state of corruption that prevails in
Pakistan, hence one will notice that I have touched upon other issues which,
though, not directly relevant to the theme of this article, nonetheless, are
the contributing factors to the larger issue of corruption that affect our
society at large.
Moreover, instead of debating what NGO corruption is, I would
rely on the simple definition suggested by Richard Holloway, and that is:
“behaviour for personal gain or for the benefit of another person or
organisation on the part of people who claim to represent an independent, not
for profit, public benefit organisation”.
The General state of affairs
Hailing from Quetta and having witnessed, heard, read about and
discussed with various internal & external stakeholders about the conduct
of certain NGOs I feel strongly to express my concerns and disgust about these
mafia-organizations.
The term mafia, as we know, originated in Italy where initially
it was attributed to Sicilian secret criminal society, but now worldwide it is
perceived and understood to relate to a group of people of similar interests or
backgrounds who are prominent in a particular field or enterprise, and are
often engaged in illegal activities. In Pakistan the examples are:
‘land-mafia’, ‘drug-mafia’, and any other secretive cabal of criminals which
extorts and deprives the poor and vulnerable of what belongs to them. Sadly,
the NGO-mafia is becoming another bête noir in our already torn apart society.
Generally speaking, there is a perception out there in the NGO
community that they are agents of social change and challenging status quo is
one of their objectives. Their ideologues on development would do everything
possible to impress you with their knowledge of the political and intellectual
awareness of the ideology of development but when it comes to substance then
they prove to be the promoters of status quo!
Corruption is, unfortunately, so rife and banal in Pakistan that
if you try to challenge or talk about the corrupt practices of any given
person, the person you will be talking to will simply shrug off her/his
shoulders and would say, “leave it, it’s not my problem, it’s not in our hands,
everyone is involved in corruption, how can we put the faux pas right”. And the
next time round when you see the same person you will hear him/her screaming,
cursing and blaming everyone else for the prevailing social malaise!
Those who dare raise their voice for justice feel that they are
let down by the society/system thus deterring other potential witnesses to
follow suit.
It was last year when my attention was drawn to a letter
(e-mail) whereby a local NGO from Balochistan province of Pakistan was exposed,
allegedly, to have been involved in the mismanagement of public funds. All the
major irregularities and illegal actions were discussed at great length. As a
result of a bargaining a then rival colleague of chief executive got away with
millions of rupees in return for chief executive’s total control over the
organization; the ‘rival colleague’ got the money, quit and started his own
NGO. A good example of mafia’ization of NGOs!
Somehow, I got in touch with those who were part and parcel of
the concerned organization. They all confirmed that the contents of the e-mail
were credible’. The claims were backed by incontrovertible documentary
evidence. For some personal reasons I don’t want to discuss each and every
point raised in that e-mail or name the people involved because I think it’s
not fair to name and shame one person or a group of people and spare the rest
of NGO-mafia.
Luckily the said e-mail added to my curiosity and I decided to
find out more about NGO mafia. Consequently, the information I gleaned, from
various sources, was simply disappointing! I came to realize that most of NGOs
operating in Pakistan were being run not to empower the underprivileged
communities but to empower the NGO families, their subservient associates and a
few friends.
On one hand a devious, class-conscious comprador elite is
actively thriving at the expense of the poor communities and, on the other
hand, paradoxically, the same class is campaigning for the eradication of
poverty through their vacuous slogans. The only impression we get of NGO-mafia
is their indefatigable quest to maintain their hegemony while preaching
demo-craZy.
No matter what they say, the fact is many NGOs do not operate in
a transparent way; they violate the democratic norms, negating the very basic
rule of democracy, i.e., ‘to govern with the consent of the governed’. Some of
these holier-than-though operatives resist the call for accountability to the
‘general public, while campaigning for intergovernmental organizations to be
more accountable to the public.
In Pakistan most of these myopic NGOs and their QUANGO
(quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization) counterparts are promoting
their own entrepreneurship with the connivance, and often involvement, of
donors and corrupt government officials.
Whenever their interests get threatened in one region they move
the goalpost to another region of Pakistan to perpetuate sufferings of the
poor.
Ironically some people attribute their so-called failures to the
tribal mindset of the communities, but what they ignore is the extent to which
they mislead everybody through their undemocratic and manipulative tactics,
seizing on every possible opportunity to retain their control over the
organisation. It’s therefore preposterous to blame the tribalism of communities
for the malfeasance of NGO mafia which is actively involved in abusing public
funds.
The NGO-mafia ignores the fact that the beneficiaries are the
very ‘raison d’être’ of these NGOs and if they, the beneficiaries, don’t
benefit from what is meant to be their resources then mafia-NGOs have got no
right, whatsoever, to exist!
It’s also absurd for someone to claim or even to imply that
he/she failed in such and such a project (e.g., micro-finance sector) because
the borrowers, being from tribal communities, had defaulted on their commitment
to repay the loans! That’s not true. If we were to accept that the defaulters
got away with the loan money because of their tribal connection then how would
one explain, a) moving the goalpost out of Balochistan, shifting almost all the
assets as well, b) how on earth other NGOs with relatively sound reputation are
still operating in Balochistan?
It’s not the tribalism of the tribes but the tribalism of the
urbanised and the educated people that we should be wary of! I don’t see much
of a difference between a tribal society and an undemocratic one; they are both
hierarchical and have much in common. The difference being that the former
category is illiterate, conservative, rural and prone to exploitation while the
latter is literate, liberal (?), urbanised and represents the exploiters! At
least, the tribal people follow and respect their principles and traditions.
The Unrepresented Communities
NGOs pretend that they are busy defining and defending rights of
the poor and the minorities or even fighting for women-rights, but the facts
and figures contradict their public policy discourse. The fact is that the
genuine external stakeholders (i.e., NGO beneficiaries) haven’t got any
representation and besides they are never involved in ex-ante and mid-term
evaluations of projects (if carried out at all!) which purport to empower the
communities.
On the contrary, the general public is openly questioning the
social legitimacy, representativity, and accountability of NGOs, realizing that
the so-called benevolent development paradigm of these organizations is NOT in
line with public interest.
Do they really represent our uninformed/uneducated communities?
With imported board members from other places will they be able to bring about
a real social change in our local communities? For example, with the exception
of a couple of mafia members who sit on various NGO-mafia boards safeguarding
each other’s interests, how many NGOs in other provinces of Pakistan have board
members from Balochistan? The reason that certain NGOs have board members from
places other than their local communities is very obvious: to retain personal
control over the organisation and its resources!
Generally speaking the board plays an important role in the
internal governance mechanism of any organisation, including an NGO, and holds
decision-making powers, thus holding the NGO responsible to the society.
However the situation in some Pakistani NGOs is lamentably disappointing (see
Fig. 3). The board members are often close friends, family members or NGO-mafia
contacts and are subservient to the director/CEO – in many cases aptly labelled
as a dummy or rubber stamped board. Even co-optation is not allowed in certain
NGO-mafia: through individual’s manipulation the threatening/vocal member is
replaced by another lackey. It’s certain that within such a governance
structure, the management team will not be able to fulfil its mission or make
use of its capabilities. Therefore, strict legal frameworks are needed to
challenge the legality of certain ‘suitcase NGOs’ whereby one person controls
organization’s resources and its board members.
The general public, therefore, have the legitimate right to pose
questions such as who do you represent and to whom are you accountable?
Another buzzword or phrase frequently used to impress the
audience is ‘grassroots’ but when it comes to measuring the impact of multi-million
rupees’ projects, the result is a rather disappointing negative impact leading
to an increasingly disempowered and less-informed communities without any signs
of sustainable development, whether economical, social or environmental because
the money is either spent elsewhere for personal development or mismanaged; a
situation which one NGO critic rightly described as: ‘power to grassroots or
grass without roots’?
When will this exploitation of our illiterate, downtrodden and
deracinated communities end, and, the NGO-mafia and other government agencies
stop abusing their resources?
Corruption and government officials
Involvement of the various government officials in corrupt
practices is an undeniable fact otherwise we would not have been in this mess
in the first place! It is important to note that many officials instead
of safeguarding the interests of the state of Pakistan and of its people, very
often, indulge and collude with the various mafia entities to get their share
of the booty. This makes the enforcement of accountability more difficult which
only helps embolden the mafias to rob the national exchequer at their will.
Examples of mafia connection
It was last year (2006) when some people or someone reported
abuse of funds and authority in a Quetta based NGO to the Quetta office of the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) branch, the
officer-in-charge at the UNHCR, a foreign national, instead of initiating his
investigation into the matter involving UNHCR funds, allegedly, got in touch
with the chief executive of the accused NGO and asked for his further advice!!!
What does this show? Corruption at the very heart of the CSO sector: be that
local, national or international!
An official from UNHCR asking for advice will only be considered
as another stakeholder whose own stakes are high in the mafia world of the NGOs
– what a farcical approach to development! But you can’t blame these
reproachable guys who happen to take their lead from the likes of Mr Paul
Wolfowitz, who was recently accused of increasing his girl friend’s salary
without informing the World Bank board of governors. Mr Wolfowitz is involved
so much with his femme fatale’s wellbeing (1, 2) that he turns blind eye to the
fatalities and carnage of the living ‘graveyard or more aptly human scrap yard’
that once was Saddam’s Iraq! Perhaps development and violence go hand in hand
and Mr. Wolfowitz’s share in fueling economies of war and perpetuating violence
will not be missed by future historians!
When it comes to development and ‘femme fatale’ then Mr
Wolfowitz you are not the only one; rest assured your amorous paradigm is being
replicated in many places around the world, Pakistan being one of them! Yours
is a very good example of pro-poor development, isn’t it?
At least he was forced to resign by the conscientious and
informed officials of the western countries, but who will hold our thieves to
accountability?
In another example, an ex-employee (a female doctor) of the same
Quetta based organization had informed UNHCR office of Quetta and other donors
about the abuse of resources and other fictitious project details. It is said
the chief executive immediately sought, allegedly, the help of a certain
government official who then threatened the female doctor with dire consequences
if she pursued any further the case or disclosed any other details of the
organization to the outside world. She was reminded (blackmailed) that failing
to conform to the instructions (threats) meant she risked to be reported to her
present government employers regarding her second illegal job with an NGO and
as a consequence she would lose her government job because a government
employee was not allowed to have two jobs concurrently.
The threat worked and the ‘female doctor’ vanished from the scene.
Likewise another male employee in the similar situation, among others, was
forced to keep quiet.
The Corruption Triangle
Mafias anywhere in the world always have support of some corrupt
government officials, without them they will never exist! The above examples
show the mafia’isation of the civil society.
This bizarre mélange of corruption-triangle involving corrupt
elements from within the civil society, government officials and other
stakeholders is not a positive development for our socially excluded
communities. The social earthquake/terrorism that is being triggered and
nurtured by these elements will be of far reaching consequences.
Is there any global conscience out there to wage a war on this
kind of terror?
A thief is not that poor man who steals just because he has
limited options to survive but that person or group of people, who are
educated, sophisticated and hold positions of authority in one form or another;
the ones whose basic living needs are fulfilled but their greed has no
frontiers, they are the real thieves or perhaps ‘thieves sans frontiers’!
They are directly responsible for the poverty of our communities in our society
as they are intrinsically corrupt. They promote corruption and bad governance
and we all know that corruption leads to poverty and poverty leads to
conflicts.
Isn’t this something that we are witnessing on daily basis in
our poor Pakistan: murders, kidnappings, robberies, acts of suicides by poor
and desperate people (not to mention suicide bombings) and other deteriorating
social and law-and-order issues that affect all of us in one way or another?
The corruption triangle is thus the stepping stone to all other varieties of
terrorism!
And then there are those who until the collapse of the Berlin
Wall were telling us about the Bolshevik Revolutionaries (Red Army) waiting at
Pak-Afghan border to emancipate us from our miseries. Their rhetoric of the
time mainly focused on classless society and Trotskyism (internationalism or
the concept of worldwide revolution as opposed to socialism in one country). At
the time they addressed our marginalized and deprived communities as
proletariat and their exploiters as the bourgeoisies but with the pulverisation
of the Berlin Wall these ideologues saw their socialist ideals and idols
getting pulverised as well. It’s really amazing to notice the number of people
from the ‘left’ side of the socio-political spectrum who have joined the NGOs –
instead of roubles the dollars change hands now!
The champions and the defenders of the proletariat are now
promoting free market economies and their new life style shows to what extent
these preachers-of-anything-for-anything have submerged in the sea of capitalism
and globalisation, thriving on the funds flowing from the capitalist economies.
Ironically, what shifted was their parlance, not their personal
undeclared paradigm
Interestingly enough, there are striking similarities between
these socialist-cum-capitalist individuals and our unprincipled and unbridled
politicians [the pseudo-elites] who change their loyalties and principles with
the rise and fall of each government
Hospitality, bribery and the genuine philanthropists
People in Pakistan, without any doubt, are generally very
hospitable, in particular towards foreigners – guests or otherwise! According
to their means and resources they entertain them and the minimum they will do
is to offer a cup of tea. So when your hosts serve you from their own personal
resources, at home or in a restaurant, this is called their hospitality but the
moment you attend a dinner in a four star hotel/restaurant in an official
capacity representing the interests of e.g., civil society, government or
corporate donors etc, then beware you are wading into the murky waters of
implicit bribery and sleaze, becoming an accomplice in promoting corruption.
You will become an equal partner in usurping marginalized communities’ rights,
donated so generously by the benevolent citizens of the world.
These kinds of wining and dining tactics are envisaged to soften
you up for further funds and for paving the path for a smoother and lenient
evaluation of their projects!
Before you accept any such invitation, think of those ordinary
charitable individuals in the developed and developing countries who donate,
whatever they can, to help their human fellows in our part of the world where
the humanitarian situation demands intervention; think of those individuals who
volunteer their precious time and raise funds at the entrances of supermarkets,
in the high streets of big cities or organise other fundraising functions just
to help our desperate and needy communities build their lives!
Misleading the uninformed/uneducated communities
In Pakistan, the masses are predominantly illiterate and
ill-informed. To them, like many other things, civil society organizations
(CSOs) and what goes on in there, are terra incognito; they find it difficult
to comprehend and challenge the real motives of these pseudo-savants, often
wrongly labelled as an ‘epistemic community’. Since a true epistemic community
would never allow itself to benefit from the needs and rights of the
illiterate, poor, and vulnerable communities!
I couldn’t believe when I read a piece of draft report written
by a Cambridge (UK) based consultant regarding a Quetta based NGO where it
boasted, “Their recovery for micro-finance/credit loan was 99%”. Very
misleading indeed! The truth is that because of mismanagement their
micro-finance section has been shut down – without any accountability!
The PPAF (Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Funds) knows about the
mismanagement of micro-credit funds but so far no action has been taken in this
regard.
If there is no free flow of information or stakeholders haven’t got
access to sufficient information regarding internal decision-making,
information about finances or about other activities then the organization
cannot claim it encourages community/stakeholder participation. In fact many of
these one-man suitcase mafia NGOs haven’t even got a system in place to deal
with complaints and redress them because by allowing such a system to become
operational would mean lesser control by the mafia bosses!
In this day and age of information I was amazed to see the
minimal information available on the websites of certain Pakistan based NGOs,
one such organization with millions of dollars in its account had only managed
to publish one leaflet (in English) and couple of annual financial reports
while boasting to be a vehicle of change at the national level. Surely, the
monthly cost of maintaining and updating their web pages will be less than
their one day’s picnic paid for from the communities’ funds.
Internet is a very powerful tool why then is the opportunity not
being availed fully to raise awareness regarding certain issues in a language
that the target group can benefit from? But this may harm their interest if
some NGO-mafias become more transparent and open. Displaying a few old
fabricated annual accounts on-line in a foreign language will make no
difference to the communities. It’s just a PR exercise to mislead the foreign
donors – nothing for communities to read in their own language and not everyone
has got a computer!
Members only Club
Not everyone can penetrate into the hermetic world of NGO mafia.
With a few good discrete, concrete and implemented examples of corruption
(embezzlement) and mismanagement, one can be become their new confrere – they
always need new trustworthy members to act as a conduit for
funding to their projects! Your membership will not be measured against your
project performance or what impact your intervention may have or may have had
on the communities but on the basis of what you have achieved and benefited
personally from the miseries of others while advocating and lobbying for their
rights!
Now once in, you will have your own designated niche in a chic
four star hotel/restaurant, owned by a foreign magnate-cum-donor, to discuss
communities’ poverty thus paying back part of donors’ money in bills (may be
this is how the corporate donors operate!).
If you get bored with your relentless public and private
discourse then think of organizing a retreat (another cliché
used in NGO parlance) in an out-of the-country-venue to discuss your local
communities’ problems, again, at the cost of millions of rupees – under the
rubric of broadening your global horizon.
At least the mafia NGO’s and poor communities’ have got
something in common: bankruptcy and retreat. One is financially bankrupt and
the other one is morally, former retreating to their niche in the comfort of a
4/5 star hotel/restaurant or a foreign country, while wining and dining they
discuss extra-mundane issues, the latter struggling to find their way out of
the social abattoir to survive!
The so-called NGO beneficiaries already having been drained out
by the influenza of poverty and social exclusion are in fact paying for
the affluenza of the benefactors, the so-called agents of
social justice living now in extravaganza with their newly found bonanza
through community development propaganda!
This is an overloaded sketch: the wall represents what
goes behind the scenes the rest I leave to your imagination to interpret…
‘Misbehaviour of northern NGOs’
Due to stringent rules and regulations and full application of
laws, the NGOs based in the western countries know that if they get involved in
any corrupt practices or if the cases of criminal wrongdoings are brought
against them then they will be dealt with harshly by their judicial system
hence the corrupt elements in the western and developed countries will be very
careful when diverting funds for their own development.
But people are well aware that it’s easier to swindle funds in
an underdeveloped country where corruption is rife and laws are not implemented
strictly. Their hosts – the recipient NGOs – know very well about the
strictness of the western judicial system therefore they prey on their western
counterparts and as soon as an opportunity is created they grab it and a two
way traffic of abuse ensues – very discretely though! In fact these are the
southern NGOs that are facilitating the corruption of their northern
counterparts. I am not saying all the people from the northern NGOs are corrupt
but they do have their own black sheep embedded in their hierarchies who
directly or indirectly benefit from the corrupt practices of southern NGOs!
Language barriers
The reason I would like to discuss the language issue here is
because it is the first prerequisite step towards empowerment of any
individual, any community or any nation. In Pakistan it affects all of us at
all levels of our day to day living.
It is very aberrant to see the majority of Pakistani CSOs
record/compile their information in the English language! Can the communities
benefit from the information in a foreign language, keeping in mind the
majority of them cannot even read and write in Urdu or in their own
native/local languages, let alone English – a foreign language! Unfortunately
with our neo-slavish mindset we will always shy away from communicating in Urdu
in our official correspondence as well as in our public discourse. What a shame
our heads of state and governments address our illiterate communities in
English!
Even seminars, conferences and workshops regarding civil society
activities are conducted in English and instead of breaking down barriers, they
erect and consolidate them! Ironically the grassroots for whom these events are
held, find themselves excluded, sitting outside on the ‘grass’ in the lawn of
the venue while daissi angraiz دیسی
کالے انگریز) – a sarcastic reference to natives who behave as if they are
English) are busy debating issues that affect the lives of these people.
In many developed countries specially trained bilingual teachers
are employed in schools to help newly arrived foreign pupils with their
education in their own language while in Pakistan it’s the other way round.
Many native speakers address their audience in a language that is totally alien
to them!
The other day I was informed how the chief executive of another
NGO was running here and there, looking for someone who could write his
organisation’s [annual] report in English. Although he and his other staff
members were fully capable of writing a brilliant report in Urdu which would
have benefitted everyone, but strangely enough, to some people community
development is only achievable in English. Shame on this mentality of ours!
The reason, I am writing in English, is, simply to reach out to
the foreign donors and readers who are directly or indirectly involved in
development politics and policy design. For our domestic readers and
stakeholders, an Urdu version will soon be made available as engaging them to
become masters of their own affair is paramount and that is the main purpose of
this article.
Absence of democracy or lack of a vision to embrace it!
It’s not a coincidence that we have so many coup d’états in our
country.
In fact absence of democracy at national level reflects our
individualistic approach to national and international issues whereby every one
of us believes, wrongly, that: ‘I am the right person to lead this
nation/political party/department/organization etc’ contradicting all democratic
norms. Hence we see a mushroom of splinter parties/organizations/factions
emanating from the parent one and the pattern keeps itself repeating and
repeating, until we get to a stage where everyone is trying to run his/her
microcosmic dictatorship. For example if we pay attention we will find out that
across Pakistan the directors/CEOs of, at least, any 5 different NGOs in the
past, at one point, were part of one NGO but due to one-man-rule and the ease
with which one can abuse funds and resources they chose to quit their parent
NGO and run their own NGO ‘businesses’. In Quetta I know the existence of at
least one such cluster of NGOs which shared one common origin (not the goal!)
and now … don’t ask! I really feel constrained to name them at this stage.
Only a true and inclusive democratic approach can redress this
anomalistic attitude of ours and this is only achievable with personal
sacrifices!
Before these mafia stakeholders teach others about good
governance and social justice, about gender equality or advocate public policy
change or before even criticize State’s existing mechanisms of accountability,
I would advise these habitués to unlearn their bad habits, abandon their
corrupt practices, become transparent and accountable, adopt parsimony and
democratic values in their own ranks and files and then come and teach us about
their intended goals and missions.
What others say about NGO-mafia?
And of course I am not the only one who is critical of these
organisations! Just google ‘corruption in NGOs or civil society’ and read…
NGO Agenda
It is also very important for the general public to know that
all NGOs are NOT neutral; some under the disguise of development seek to
implement their hidden political agendas. They interfere in the domestic politics
of many countries and in many parts of the world they instigate civil and
political unrest and that is in addition to their gathering of
information/intelligence to help shape their respective governments’ foreign
policy. Some of the faith based NGOs, as part of their agenda, seek to convert
people from other faiths to the religion they subscribe to. There are then
those who work on behalf of the corporate donors to safeguard their commercial
interests. On the other extreme our do-gooders by accumulating illegal wealth
are busy compromising our national sovereignty, security and social cohesion!
Confronting the mafia
The accusations that crop up so often exposing NGO-mafia cannot
be termed baseless and merely put aside. The genuine stakeholders need to be
educated regarding purpose, role and the limitations of these organizations; we
must stand against this laisser-faire trend and wake up to the realities of the
day, otherwise the abuse of precious resources will continue unchecked and this
will only exacerbate the plight of the poverty stricken communities.
Therefore the need to mobilise/involve primary stakeholders,
whose voices remain unheard, is imperative in monitoring and confronting mafia
NGOs. This can be achieved by:
v Launching awareness raising campaigns
v Engaging beneficiaries/stakeholders
v Engaging the Media
v Seeking to hold the mafia accountable
v Involving donors to intervene
v Setting up NGO Watchdog
- Awareness
raising campaigns
The funds cannot in themselves transform a society. It’s through
campaigning for justice and against injustices that we will be able to create a
JUST society for all to live peacefully side by side. We must therefore speak
up against those who advance their own vested interests under the rubric of
community development projects but in fact espouse different values from what
they preach.
- Engaging
beneficiaries/stakeholders
The NGO beneficiaries/stakeholders must mobilize their
respective communities to monitor these mafia organizations and challenge their
abuse of public funds and resources that are raised in their names. The voices
of the poor must not remain unheard and we must make sure that NGOs are made
accountable as much to the primary stakeholders as to the donors and above all
to our criminal justice system.
This will only be possible if: a) the stakeholders (internal and
external) know what is going on in the organisation, that is, free and absolute
access to all the information – nothing should remain hidden, and, b) the
stakeholders, in particular the NGO-beneficiaries, should get themselves
involved in planning, monitoring and reviewing projects and participate in
other aspects of organization’s business! On their part the NGOs will also need
to behave in a more transparent way and create opportunities for communities
and their partners to participate in the programmes meant to be for the uplift
of the poor communities.
- Engaging
the Media
The media plays a very important role in shaping up a country’s
destiny. They have to take the lead in educating our people as to the role and
purpose of NGOs; they must engage other institutions of learning and social
organisations into a nation-wide debate. Similarly, internet can be used by
individuals and organisations to raise awareness for the same purpose.
- Accountability
The corruption issue is a very complex one and there are no
simple solutions to redress it; it’s a social disease. Corruption, illiteracy
and ignorance being the main root causes that corrode the very fabric of our
society. Only State’s honest officials, if there are any, can stamp it out from
our society. The starting point should be the judiciary and the police. Only an
independent, just, conscientious, powerful and accountable judiciary can buttress
the collapsing foundations of our society that have been weakened by decades’
corruption and abuse; they can only rescue us if they first rescue these
important institutions from a total collapse. An all out ‘jihad’ against
corruption is the only way forward to purge our society of corrupt elements.
Corruption is an illegal act, therefore when an NGO or its
management is engaged in corrupt practices, diverting funds on spurious grounds
to their own entrepreneurship then it ought to be accountable to national
criminal justice system and to the communities it purports to serve.
- Involving
donors to intervene
The national/international donors and the government agencies
must therefore listen and respond to the growing concerns of the general public
and NGO beneficiaries. They must fulfil their legal and moral obligations in
making these organizations more accountable and transparent.
It is also equally important for the donors to liaise
independently with the community representatives and other internal and
external informants to prevent the ingurgitation of the meagre community
resources by the mafia. The communities should be the direct clienteles of the
donors, not the NGO-mafia – unless the donors have got other agenda to
implement.
NEED FOR A WATCH DOG
Many mafia-NGOs maintain a dodgy dossier to mislead their donors
and deceive their beneficiaries. Often these NGOs manage to fabricate a
positive evaluation material, hiding their shortcomings and failures so that
they could continue having unhindered access to funds from the donors and at
the same time continue emptying the communities’ coffers to their own
advantage.
In order to confront the NGO-mafia, the general public will need
to run a member based NGO, funded by its members and national donors so that
its independence is not compromised. Only the members should have the right to
elect, for a fixed period of time, the governing and executive bodies of the
organisation. This would make everyone involved in the watchdog organisation
more accountable and transparent and less prone to falling into the trap of
despotism. Thus, by leading by example and by acting as a pressure group we can
halt the process of mafia’I’zation of the modern nascent civil society. This
[watchdog NGO] will also help bring the debate into the public domain, allowing
stakeholders to have a free access to the information which will further
enhance their understanding of certain issues that affect their lives, thus
allowing them to participate more proactively in their own affairs in an
informed manner.
The irony is that, at present, even the members of the governing
and executive bodies are not empowered and many of them are mere stooges of
CEOs/Directors, serving them for few perks and favours or they are there for
symbolic reasons to give the false impression about the democratic and
representative nature of the organisation. A few of them are just there for the
sake of being a board member. Examples in Pakistan: numerous!
Through accountability and transparency institutions can be
democratized and strengthened and democratic culture developed. But without
questioning the unethical behaviour of certain mafia NGOs, without exposing
cases of corruption and wrongdoing in these organisations, the quality and
integrity of civil society will be seriously compromised. By allowing the
stakeholders to monitor an organization’s affair will only help build its
credibility and legitimacy.
Discussion
So far the civil society has failed terribly to deliver what it
has been claiming in its rhetoric. Lack of transparency and accountability only
demonstrate the vacuousness of certain mafia-NGOs, debunking their sloganeering
campaign of community development. They are the ones who are truly thriving in
a kleptocratic milieu abusing and wasting millions of rupees!
The present state of affairs in the civil society demands that
we conduct a reconnaissance social audit study, involving all the stakeholders.
It’s only through remapping the contours of the civil society, equipping
ourselves with a high moral compass, and by studying a well
representative cross-section of our social strata, that we will be able to
unfold the cracking fault lines within the civil society. We will then find out
that the various so-called actors for social change are drifting away from
their drummed up, epoch-making goal of social justice.
We will also realize that the resources and energy that they
have utilized, so far, to cause tidal waves of macro-magnitude have hardly
produced any ripples of micro importance. Sadly, the protectors of the
corruption triangle did not even spare the victims of October 2005 earthquake!
Billions of dollars were raised and millions were siphoned off!
The malpractices which are so manifestly evident in many
Pakistani NGOs have already begun to erode public support and confidence in
these organizations, exposing their claims about human rights, good governance
or promotion of democracy etc. – like charity, accountability also begins at
home!
Slogans such as voluntarism, charity and altruism sound good but
in practice, only few people are willing to adopt these values: For example, an
organization whose basic running costs far exceed the costs of their projects
or where the highest paid person earns 20 times more than the lowest paid staff
member is very peculiar of these NGO-mafias which claim to promote an
equitable and just society.
Those NGO proponents who advocate preference of NGO performance
over NGO accountability should know that in countries like Pakistan it’s
corruption that rules which in turn affects performance of any individual,
organization, state or otherwise, hence it will be very naïve to expect better
performance without demanding, and, implementing effective accountability.
Therefore a form of control by government should not be interpreted as a blow
to a free society but in fact harnessing these corrupt elements in the civil
society will only strengthen the free society and help reduce the poverty. This
will also make the uncivil elements more civilised!
I can fully appreciate the fact that at present thousands of
temporary jobs and badly needed extra hard cash to the country’s fragile
economy are the only spin off that we can get from the civil society sector but
that doesn’t mean we condone what is not right within this so-called ‘third
sector’. The huge amount of money thus involved if utilised effectively and
parsimoniously, can immensely transform our marginalised communities. If we did
not act now then we should know that the scavengers are on the loose and they
know how to translate pro-poor sustainable development concepts into
sustainable family businesses. I therefore urge all those past and present
employees/volunteers of the NGOs to play their role and prevent those
individuals embedded in the NGO hierarchies from exploiting the communities’
resources any further.
For monitoring and evaluation purposes independent
interpreters/translators should be used by foreign donors to liaise between the
communities, NGOs and the donors in order to gauge the impact of the project
and prevent the organization that is being evaluated from wrongly influencing
the outcome or misleading the members of the fact finding mission
Let’s not forget that the NGO beneficiaries are the needy
people, they would think twice before turning down offers of the so-called
development programmes and other services even if they were to be of
substandard.
Since NGOs operate in the public domain therefore their
credibility and integrity is of utmost importance to the affected communities
they serve. What else would you imagine if you see in an organization the
absence of an independent board, absence of transparent mechanisms of
accounting, lack of internal appointment procedures and a multitude of other
illegal and undemocratic measures that are taken by these self-appointed
do-gooders? And when you challenge their illegal and undemocratic practices
then they retort by saying, ‘we don’t need your certification’!!!
Whose certification do they need then? PCP‘s (Pakistan Centre
for Philanthropy’s)? If PCP or its likes were that efficient and honest then we
would not have witnessed the advent of the prolific NGO mafia across the
country!
Conclusion
The civil society organizations (CSOs) were/are supposed to help
facilitate the development of the marginalized and underprivileged communities
and, alleviate their sufferings by empowering them through the creation of an
‘enabling environment’ but instead the NGO-mafia, in cahoots with their mafia
protectors/impuissant board, have only been promoting corruption and bad
governance through their hyped up pseudo-development programmes.
The donors, on their part, either due to the nature of their
policy/agenda or because of being complacent are equally responsible for the
existence of such organisations.
Only an in depth financial and social audits will tell us what
impact their projects had on our communities. But the one million dollar
question is who is going to conduct this study? Who is going to watch the
watchdog? Until we find one, the mafia is on loose to perpetrate daylight
robberies!
The perception in the NGO Mafia that they are above the law and
are not accountable to anyone needs to be challenged. Each one of us including
media should play our respective role. Our inaction, at this crucial juncture,
will only impede social progress in lieu of expediting it. This will only hurt
the poor of the poor who are living at the very fringes of hopelessness.
The use of Urdu language in disseminating information should be
encouraged at all levels.
Ironically the NGO-mafia itself is under scrutiny; the stage is
now set for the anticlimax. It’s time to rehearse the requiem for them.
Note: Witnesses play a vital role in society by helping to solve crimes and stop injustices from taking place. There would be no effective criminal justice system if victims & witnesses do not speak loud enough to be heard by those who could be very helpful in prosecuting the criminals.
Note: Witnesses play a vital role in society by helping to solve crimes and stop injustices from taking place. There would be no effective criminal justice system if victims & witnesses do not speak loud enough to be heard by those who could be very helpful in prosecuting the criminals.
Below is a news item appeared in Jang London’s Urdu online
edition of January 31, 2010. It says a woman who as the Chief Executive
of two charities for children, stole fraudulently £ 80,000 pounds;
she was sent to prison for 3 years. Unfortunately, in Pakistan the ‘Thief
Executives’ get promoted to the higher positions so that they could rob more
and more and share the stolen money with those who helped them get away with
their crimes. You scratch my back, I will scratch yours! Instead of reducing
poverty the NGO mafia has created more pseudo-millionaires among its rank and
file!
With thanks https://xtribune.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/ngo-mafia-in-pakistan/
List of some more famous non-governmental organizations in Pakistan
1. Aman Foundation
2. Academy
for Educational Development
3. Action Aid
4. Adventist
Development and Relief Agency Pakistan
5. AFS
Intercultural Exchanges
6. Himalaya
Foundation
7. Arab-Pakistani Fund
8. Asian
Human Rights Development Organization
9. Association
for the Development of Pakistan
10. Aurat Foundation
11. Aga Khan
Rural Support Programme
12. Al-Khidmat Foundation
13. Bilqees
Sarwar Foundation (BSF)
14. Braille Without
Borders
15. Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association
16. CARE Pakistan
17. Caritas Pakistan
18. Carter Center
19. Childreach
International
20. Chiltan
Adventurers Association Balochistan
21. William J. Clinton
Foundation
22. CMKP
Pakistan
23. Conservation
International
24. Consumer
Rights Commission of Pakistan
25. Darul Sukun
26. David
and Lucile Packard Foundation
27. DAI
28. Edhi Foundation
29. Environmental Defense
30. Environmental
Investigation Agency
31. Faiz Foundation for Pakistan
32. Family
Educational Services Foundation
33. Family Health
International
34. Fatima Jinnah Trust
35. Fatma Welfare
Foundation
36. Fauna and
Flora International
37. Ford Foundation
38. Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung
39. Friends of Pakistan
40. Friends of the
Earth Pakistan
41. Green Crescent Trust
42. Idara-e-Amn-o-Insaf
43. Institute
for Sustainable Communities
44. International
Committee of the Red Cross
45. International
Development Enterprises
46. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
47. International
Fund for Animal Welfare
48. International Organization for Sustainable Development
49. International
Republican Institute
50. Islamic Relief
51. iDonate (NGO)
52. Institute of
Rural Management
53. Indus Hospital
54. John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
55. JDC Welfare
Organization
56. Konrad Adenauer
Stiftung
57. Lahore music forum
58. Layton
Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust
59. Khan Liaqat Ali Khan Society for Needy Children
60. Meenay Laas
61. MKR Foundation
62. Muslim Charity
63. Muslim Hands
64. Muslim World League
65. Médecins du Monde
66. Médecins Sans
Frontières
67. Minhaj Welfare
Foundation
68. National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
69. Natural
Resources Defense Council
70. New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
71. National
Research and Development Foundation (NRDF)
72. Nazaria-i-Pakistan
Trust (NPT)
73. Pacific
Environment
74. Pact
75. PAK Education Society/Pakistan Development Network
76. Phelex Foundation
77. PlaNet Finance
78. Plan International
79. PLANWEL
80. Population
Services International
81. Prevention of
Blindness Trust
82. Program
for Appropriate Technology in Health
83. Progressive
Education Network
84. Project Hope
85. ProLiteracy Worldwide
86. PES[disambiguation needed]
87. Red Crescent Society
88. Red Cross Society
89. Rising Sun Institute
90. Rozan[disambiguation needed]
91. Rural
Education and Development Foundation
92. South Asia
Partnership Pakistan
93. Shahid Afridi
Foundation
94. Sada-e-Umeed
95. Sarhad Rural support Programme
96. Save the Children
97. Saylani
Welfare International Trust
98. SOS Kinderdorf
99. Society
for Sustainable Development-SSD
100.
Strengthening
Participatory Organization
101.
Sustainable
Development Policy Institute
102.
Swiss Red Cross
103.
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research
Centre
104.
The Asia Foundation
105.
The Citizens
Foundation
106.
The Fred
Hollows Foundation
107.
The Mountain
Institute
108.
The Nature
Conservancy
109.
The Salvation Army
110.
The Terma Foundation
111.
Volunteers in Asia
112.
Village Health
Organization
113.
Voluntary
Service Overseas
114.
War Against Rape
115.
Wetlands International
116.
Wheelchair Foundation
117.
WildAid
118.
Wildlife
Conservation Society
119.
Women Media Center
120.
World Bank/International
Monetary Fund
121.
World Conservation
Union
122.
World Monuments Fund
123.
World Vision International
124.
World Wide Fund
for Nature
125.
Youth
Parliament of Pakistan
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