Does this mean that the NGO sector is losing government support? Part 2
addresses this by studying the extent to which recent policy developments have
affected the standing of large INGOs, looking at the funding trends for four
organizations: Care, Oxfam, ActionAid and BRAC. It also examines the proportion
of overseas development assistance (ODA) channelled to the NGO sector since 1980
by the main bilateral donors, asking whether government rhetoric on aid
instruments is matched by disbursements of funds. This paper demonstrates that
ODA going to NGOs rose steeply during this period.
It is important to
note, however, that the vast majority of ODA is still in the form bilateral aid;
the amount reported going to NGOs remains a small percentage of the total. One
issue this paper discusses is the dichotomy between the perceived importance of
“civil society” in aid policy and the official financial support it actually
receives. Why did governments decide to support so pointedly a sector that
defined itself as non-governmental? What will be the position of large INGOs,
currently funded to provide basic services, in the future? The last section
looks at the implications of partnerships between Northern and Southern NGOs,
asking whether recent policy initiatives have benefited civil society in the
South.
In conclusion, the paper finds a mixed picture in terms of
funding trends, and argues that this points to a change in the role of INGOs in
the current development paradigm, rather than their demise. However, donor
stipulations for “partnerships” between Northern and Southern NGOs in which
INGOs, due to control over funds, exercise a significant amount of power over
their Southern partners, are building lasting hierarchies that seem unquestioned
by both donors and INGOs. Despite often genuine aims to transfer skills to the
South, resulting in endless well-meant “capacity building” programmes, lack of
transparency and trust between partners are undermining attempts to build
constructive partnerships. This discrepancy between donor rhetoric and practice
is causing resentment in the South, and it is something that must be addressed
in order to avoid perpetuating global power structures.