By Jannatul Mawa
The IndependentOctober 4, 2000
Among NGO circles in Dhaka, a sense of grievance is developing over the age-old issue of resource allocation and, with it, the burgeoning role and legitimacy of international NGOs in Bangladesh. A growing number of complaints are being voiced by reputable national NGOs that their Dhaka- based international counterparts are increasingly squeezing them out of the race for local project funding. It seems these international NGOs (INGOs) no longer restrict themselves to mobilizing resources from their rich home countries to bring into Bangladesh.
As the major aid powers have decentralized their aid decisions, so these INGOs have turned their attention to competing locally for the larger aid cake' now available here in Dhaka disbursed locally by donor agencies and embassies. By doing so, they are now acting increasingly as external contractors competing with local capacity rather than bringing in additional funding. There is a real issue here and the potential for greater controversy.
The donor agencies' growing patronage of Dhaka-based NGOs in preference to national NGOs (except for the giants) raises interesting policy as well as practical issues. The assumption that the role of international NGOs is primarily to bring in new resources to Bangladesh rather than to compete with domestic capacity for aid resources which are already committed here is being seriously challenged.
Many national NGOs feel that the Dhaka-based foreign-owned NGOs (INGOs) have an unfair advantage in selling their services locally - their expatriates/technical experts can talk on equal terms, often in the same language, as their fellow-countrymen in the embassies and donor agencies. Perhaps they use the same international clubs or inhabit the same social circles. Most national NGOs just do not have those connections or links.
The matter was demonstrated when one foreign NGO recently advertised to recruit a Dhaka-based Fund-raising Officer - in other words, a staff member whose sole purpose appears to be mobilize aid funds which are already in Bangladesh. Given the number and experience of national NGOs, is this duplication necessary? Does it imply that the donors cannot trust or rely on national NGOs?
The issue is further complicated by the distortions created by this additional local fund mobilization. The substantial locally-mobilized aid funds circulating among a small number of NGOs is creating marked imbalance in the whole NGO sector. A number of established NGOs have been losing key staff to one leading INGO whose salary package, traditionally higher than others, is now running around 3 times that of comparable national NGOs. Their vehicle fleet far exceeds any national NGO.
Naturally, national NGOs are unable to retain skilled staff when confronted with differentials of these dimensions. To complete the picture, it is often the same Dhaka-based donors which fund the high INGO overhead, amazingly pays a premium to hire the services of the foreign contractor. This excludes the question of how much of this local aid funding may be exported from Bangladesh, because these organizations rely much more on foreign expertise which requires payment in hard currency.
Most NGOs work, at least to some degree, through national and local NGO partners. Their reply to these accusations would be that resources are channeled - in many though not all cases - through local organizations and ultimately the poor, where aid is intended. This is unconvincing since it leaves the question why is an international intermediary or middleman needed when capable and experienced national intermediaries offer the same services at lower cost?
The same argument applies to the use of foreign consultants in governmental aid projects. In most cases, they do not bring more quality or experience; merely some apparent neutrality and perhaps better writing skills. Their involvement has the same effect as the NGOs - aid funds already committed to Bangladesh are diverted to foreign intermediaries.
The capture of local aid funds by INGOs also raises an even deeper question of legitimacy. National Bangladeshi NGOs are ultimately owned and managed by Bangladeshis, closely regulated within the country and accountable to the NGO Affairs Bureau. By contrast, INGOs are owned and registered abroad. They may be registered here and subject to project approval by our government, but their legitimacy and accountability lies beyond these shores.
In certain countries of the region, such as Nepal, INGOs are actively and specifically discouraged by official policy from mobilizing aid funds in country for reasons of accountability and in order to promote the emergence of local capacity. Perhaps the success and explosive growth of the national NGO giants' has distorted the perceptions of public donors. These Bangladeshi giants clearly experience no problem of aid funding for their work, and more besides.
Visit any part of the country and you cannot fail to observe yet another newly-constructed building or yet another signboard of one or other of the national giants. Yet there are at least 100 (perhaps as many as 400) other NGOs of varying size and capacity which are struggling to continue poverty alleviation programs. The aid industry in Bangladesh is as old as the nation. The national NGO sector has attained a proven level of experience and maturity and relative effectiveness admired beyond these shores. In this context, can Dhaka-based donors really justify their continued excessive patronage of INGOs or foreign consultants?
Let the INGOs restrict their role to mobilizing aid resources outside to bring those into Bangladesh and ensure they are used wisely inside the country; if necessary, they can help develop the local capacity which already exists in quality and abundance. But allow the national NGO sector the space and a level-playing field and let them assume their primary task of utilizing and maximizing aid resources already committed to Bangladesh through the donor agencies in Dhaka. Such a division of labor makes common sense in policy and practical terms.
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