By Marion Guillermard
BondSeptember 2002
Funding available under sector and thematic budget lines is increasingly being channelled through Southern NGOs while their access to the co-financing budget line is currently under discussion. Marion Guillermard, Programme Funding Manager at Christian Aid, and Chair of the BOND EC Funding Group discusses the pro's and con's.
Over the past 25 years, most EC support to Southern NGOs has gone through EU NGOs. Only recently has the developmental and democratic value of a strong Southern civil society become widely accepted, resulting in a specific interest in supporting and building local capacity.
For many EU NGOs, this current trend is a threat to their funding, particularly in relation to staff and administration costs. If Southern NGOs are now considered as being the most appropriate actors to implement and manage emergency and development projects in their respective countries, the legitimacy of many EU NGOs - particularly operational ones - is bought into question, so they must rethink their role. Many of them can carry out other useful work, such as capacity-building of Southern NGOs and/or advocacy and lobbying work at European level. However, they are also dependent on public support, but demonstrating to one's supporters the impact of the construction of a well is far easier than showing the impact of an advocacy campaign in Europe. Therefore EU NGOs not only have to reposition themselves as development actors but also have to convince their supporters that their new role is necessary and complementary to the work of Southern NGOs.
However, is the trend towards direct funding of Southern NGOs really a threat to EU NGOs? Applying for and managing EC funding directly currently means:
· taking all responsibilities and risks for EC grant management
· pre-financing of EC contributions: the EC approves the NGO report on the first installment before releasing the next one and holds up to 10 per cent of its overall contribution until approval of the final NGO report
· making up for exchange rate losses, given that the EC amount approved can not be increased
· spending a lot of time compiling detailed and comprehensive applications that are often rejected
· preparing complicated financial reports
· spending a lot of time writing letters, getting lost in complicated web sites, trying to reach EC officials, networking with other EU NGOs, attending EC related meetings and meeting EC representatives in order to: discover the priority areas of a coming call; clarify contradictory information; obtain reasons for application rejections; ascertain the next EC reform and/or understand different EC interpretations given
· meeting EC delegations which do not always have the time, information, interest, willingness and/or authorisation to dialogue with NGOs.
Do Southern NGOs want to increase their capacities and experience of the above work, potentially at the cost of time spent in the field with beneficiaries?
Additionally, is the EC able to further improve its process so that funding is planned, allocated and managed in a participatory, efficient, coherent and transparent way, in Brussels and in the field, and therefore more accessible to Southern NGOs?
This new trend towards direct funding of Southern NGOs may actually be a great opportunity for EU NGO's and their Southern partners. For the latter, it is an opportunity for developing capacities in communication, project planning and management as well as writing applications, reports, negotiating and managing funding according to EC requirements. It is also an opportunity for influencing EC programming and allocation of funds and possibly for influencing Southern governments more efficiently through working alongside large donors. For EU NGOs, it is an opportunity to reposition themselves to be complementary to Southern NGOs, rather than competing against them. EU NGOs could expand their Southern partners capacities to access and manage EC funding as well as develop other ways of raising funds from institutional donors, private supporters and/or companies. They could help develop Southern NGOs research, publishing, advocacy and lobbying capacities as well as access to international fora. When EU NGOs are working in several countries, they can facilitate networking, linkages and joint campaigning between these countries, whilst carrying out development education, awareness-raising, advocacy and lobbying activities targeting rich countries, people and companies world wide. Finally, EU NGOs could sell their ‘built-up' knowledge and capacities, to the EC and other large donors, thus helping them to identify and support those Southern organisations they want to fund directly.
The question now, is will EU NGOs be willing and able to seize these opportunities?
More Information on NGOs
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