NGO bashing

The former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, has recently told his equally knowledgeable audience that Pakistan's economy is dominated by multinational companies and NGOs. Mentioning two entirely different phenomena in the same breath not only reflects on the lack of understanding of Pakistan's economy on Qazi sahib's part but an inherent bias against the forward-looking elements in Pakistan's civil society. Bashing NGOs is a fad in segments of Pakistani media, politicians and intelligentsia. No one can deny the corruption or sloppiness in many NGO-run projects. Who could ever say that malpractices in any sector should not be stopped and people responsible for embezzling or wasting public money must not be tried? However, to see NGOs as a monolith and castigate the whole sector is wrong. There is little realisation but some organisations and their networks have done remarkable work in keeping the issues of social justice alive and creating an unprecedented awareness of rights and values in the citizens of Pakistan.

There are different kinds of non-governmental organisations in Pakistan, registered under six different laws as non-profit companies, societies, cooperatives, trusts, social welfare agencies, etc. While those providing basic services could be criticised on ideological grounds by some that it is not their but the government's job, it is the state policies which are to be held responsible for this model of development and not those who come forward and fill the vacuum, some of them with a lot of earnestness. All rural support programmes were established by the government itself following the model of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in northern areas. The Trust for Voluntary Organisations (TVO) was also established by the government with USAID money. The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment, the National Commission for Human Development, outfits to support and encourage community development through large and small NGOs were all established by different governments.

They have done better than the failed development projects in our history like the Social Action programmes etc which were funded by western government grants or the likes of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, and were all housed in government departments, ministries or by setting up special project offices headed mostly by in-service civil servants. Unfortunately, the practice continues and neither have we seen the government nor the donors learning from their past mistakes. The aid architecture has to be revisited and it is not only the perks of people running these projects that is bothersome, unlike what most commentators think, but the ineffectiveness and inefficiency rooted in lopsided planning and poor monitoring of these initiatives.

Talking of charity, institutions like the Edhi Foundation, the Chippa Ambulance Service and the Fatimid Foundation serve the people of this country on a humanitarian basis. Do we expect them to close down in order to expedite the revolution as people would rise up and revolt if the relief they provide is withdrawn? This is what some of my old comrades would like to believe.

There is an altogether different type of organisations which are called rights-based and have not worked as extension arms of government projects and programmes. Evolved over the years, many organisations, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the Aurat Foundation, the Justice and Peace Commission, Shirkatgah, Rozan, Shehri, etc, have provided a voice to the downtrodden, trained them in basic skills and highlighted the atrocities committed against women, religious minorities, children, peasants and labourers. It is they and the movements they created which kept the torch of struggle alight, be it asking for the repeal of discriminatory laws or for economic justice.



The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org