The traditional approaches of service delivery adopted by NGOs are fast losing credence in a world that is shaped by a benign ideological coercion. NGO-led mega projects of social services have absolved the state of its responsibility to provide social security to citizens as part of the social contract. The state has monopoly not only over violence but also over resource mobilisation through taxes, bills and excise duties etc. It also has the legal/constitutional cover to promulgate or abrogate productive processes of wealth generation.
If NGOs as civil society organisations replicate what is the legal preserve of the state, they always end up playing the devil’s advocates. The civil society should play the role of a social mediator between the state and its citizens, and promote the welfare of citizens to minimise the coercive role of the state.
Let us imagine what a civil society organisation could look like in a world of benign ideological hegemony. A civil society organisation must aim to support a people-centric socio-economic transformation. This can only evolve out of a realisation that there exists a need for an institution that serves the poor, marginalised and disadvantaged people by facilitating their access to resources and opportunities and linking their aspirations to policymaking through research and advocacy.
In addition to its role as a lead entity of policy research and advocacy, a CSO must aim to promote a culture of critical thinking, scientific inquiry and informed decision making about key social, economic, cultural and environmental issues.
Amidst a plethora of challenges such as lack of security, political instability, rampant poverty and outdated mode of production, initiating a socio-economic transformation in Pakistan requires connecting empirical evidence to policy decisions. As one of the key stakeholders of this transformation, NGOs – given their comparative edge on development expertise, local knowledge, strong professional credentials and access to resources – can be instrumental in countering the ideological and structural coercion and tilting it in favour of the citizens.
Today, the need of a proactive civil society has become even more pronounced owing to the impending challenges and opportunities that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) offers to the poor communities living across Pakistan. This could start with small steps like holding a series of thematic panel discussions, policy debates and colloquiums on burning issues that matter to Pakistan in general. In these series of panel discussions, NGOs must strive to initiate informed debate to dissect the major issues, challenges and opportunities of CPEC as well as policy briefs for decision makers. All these events should be given live media coverage and must be shared with key stakeholders including governments, embassies, universities, corporate sector and international donors. This would help create a knowledge-based society where citizens are able to make informed political and economic choices.
The main objective of any effective civil society is to facilitate social transformation through cutting-edge research, advocacy, service delivery and knowledge production. An NGO must be a specialised entity of researchers, change practitioners, business professionals, social entrepreneurs and transformation activists who aim to undertake an action-oriented holistic change.
To meet these objectives, NGOs should devise sub-goals with tangible steps to accomplish them. These goals should foremost include developing links with regional, national and international development entities, formal/informal networks of policy and advocacy through strategic investments and web-based broadcast channels. The second step should focus on promoting indigenous research about public governance, education, nutrition, economy and other themes relevant to the evolving needs of the citizens. The organisations should further link indigenous research expertise with international cutting-edge research practices in collaboration with national/global research entities, development agencies and practitioners.
What a CSO could further do is publish resource books for research on a regular basis and disseminate them in vernacular languages to local change agents aspiring to contribute to social transformation. Moreover, strategic partnerships with leaders of sectors such as education, nutrition, livelihood, environment and social entrepreneurship should also be built to gain a leverage over expertise and resources of social transformation. Lastly, civil society organisations should focus on organising sessions, seminars, workshops etc to facilitate researchers, practitioners and experts to share their respective findings, experiences and knowledge with a wider audience to advocate social transformation
This all will happen only if we are committed to jettisoning the conventional idea of NGOs being avenues of easy money while also serving as quasi-government structures. Rethinking the methodological and theoretical assumptions upon which NGOs’ functions are predicated is the primary condition for improved governance,- be they local government bodies, line departments, civil society institutions, private enterprises or community-based institutions. The inability of current institutional models to deliver and the persistent policy failures in responding to evolving challenges are the key factors pushing for issues of governance, particularly, to be re-evaluated. This requires an improved public accountability mechanism in that the concept of citizenship (citizens as right holders and duty bearers) is central to the notion of political transformation.
NGOs must advocate for transformative action through public platforms of an informed citizenry and should offer context-specific solutions to governance issues through research, knowledge production and capacity building of the executives, legislators, civil society professionals, public representatives and social activists One of the key areas to focus on for socio-economic transformation is bridging the gap between policy, research and practice of development. NGOs can act as a catalyst linking the research and practice through pragmatic action plans with academia and development entities.
The burgeoning economic challenges for the country can be overcome by promoting sectors of comparative advantage, developing links with high-end markets, and public-private partnerships. With requisite resources, facilities and research specialties, civil society institutions can play a vital role in devising context specific strategies for socio-economic development that are organically linked with local economies and development potential.
The preconditions for local development can contain a set of development initiatives to invest in human capacities; skills, research, policy, advocacy and untapped transformative potential in that local people have meaningful participation to benefit from the opportunities of CPEC, for instance. Meaningful participation means a sense of shared benefits, co-creation of value, ownership and capability to make informed choices to avail opportunities and avert the risks/threats of this transnational mega-project. Investment in human capacities, skills and ‘functional capabilities’ (borrowing a phrase from Amartya Sen) – to improve chances of the people of Pakistan in accessing CPEC’s benefits – must be intertwined with an institutional approach.
This institutional approach provides a long-term view of continued benefit, ownership and shared value in that well-governed, transparent, equitable and inclusive institutions of people at the grassroots articulate the vision of change. An NGO must act as a catalyst, through research and advocacy, for policy support in transforming socio-economic conditions of the people. For this to happen, NGOs will have to facilitate a dialogue between the public, private and third sectors by forging public-private partnerships. This will also entail bridging the gap between research, policy and practice of development through joint ventures and joint investments in human and social capital which in turn will create preconditions for local development.
Civil society organisations must come up with overarching strategic frameworks to help individual NGOs, local development networks and the government to think holistically and creatively about how to enhance their access to improved social services – both in the short and long run. This could begin by encouraging stakeholders to redefine community-based development priorities in a way where men, women and children have the knowledge, skills and capabilities to live a healthy, balanced, and connected life, leading to positive socio-economic development.
The framework must encourage communities to realistically map their development needs by using the human life cycle approach so that demand for services is articulated not only for children but for other social groups as well, such as people with disabilities or special lifecycle related needs, transgender persons and the aged.
The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad.
Email: ahnihalyahoo.com