The New Salvation Army of the NGOs:

A Sri Lankan Case Study (Part 1)
 

by H. L. D. Mahindapala (From ASIAN TRIBUNE and World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka.)

Conventional "Wisdom"

This is a critique of the NGOs in general and their role in Sri Lanka in particular.

Conventional wisdom tends to accept that NGOs are a benign force exported by the West for the benefit of the natives who cannot help themselves.

This critique questions this assumption.

It also focuses on inter-relationship between NGOs and the media in Sri Lanka.

Missionaries & NGOs

In colonial times it was the Christian missionaries that came out to civilize the colonial natives.

Today it is the NGOs that have taken over this role.

They parade as the newest Salvation Army that has come to save the poor, the oppressed, the children, the women, the environment and the related issues that plague the developing nations.

Politicised NGOs

It is mainly the politicized NGOs that have come under fire from traditional societies.

Despite their claim to be do-gooders they are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as a threat to traditional societies putting their best foot forward to come to grips with the realities of modernity.

Marxist left-wingers see them as the vanguard of neo-liberalism disguised as do-gooders.

One of the main criticisms against this new Salvation Army is their drive to impose a Western agenda on traditional societies like the colonial missionaries before them.

Growth of NGOs

There has been a phenomenal growth of NGOs in Sri Lanka.

At the last count in Sri Lanka there were 4,000 NGOs - and growing.

It is also mushrooming globally running into multi-millions. A UN report estimated in 1995 that there were nearly 29,000 international NGOs. National statistics are even higher:

The United States has an estimated 2 million NGOs, most of them formed in the past 30 years. Russia has 65,000 NGOs. India has 2 million NGOs. Dozens are created daily. In Kenya alone, some 240 NGOs come into existence every year.

Perceptions

As intermediaries between the government and the communities the rise of NGOs is seen as a positive development to keep governments in check.

Some consider it as the invisible hand of Western neo-liberal agencies that haunt the globe.

It is also considered as the behemoth that tends to usurp the powers of the state by dictating national agendas without any responsibility for the consequences of their interventionist actions.

Types of NGOs

INGOs (CARE)

RINGOs (Catholic Relief Services)

ENGOs are many (environmental)

BINGOs business-oriented international NGO

GONGOs, suspected to be government-operated NGOs to attract foreign aid QUANGOs, quasi-autonomous Nongovernmental organisations -e.g. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium which works together to develop standards for the World Wide Web.

W3C's mission is: "To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web".

This list of acronyms is growing keeping pace with the proliferation of NGOs.

"Civil" Society

NGOs claims to be the hard core of "civil society" - a term that is yet to be defined with precision. It is a term that has gone through various interpretations and there is no unanimity on its precise meaning in the modern context.

Hegel, Marx and Gramsci right down to the local pundits in Sri Lanka have entered the discourse on the meaning and the role of "civil society". World Bank, however, divides this plethora of NGOs into two main categories:

1. Operational

2. Advocacy

NGO Linkages

Operational NGOs are linked to development-related projects and delivery of health, environment, rehabilitation, refugees and other services.

Advocacy NGOs are linked to political agendas produced by NGOs to address critical issues facing each nation. It can vary from Bergoff Foundation infiltrating the Armed Forces in Sri Lankan to dissuade and disengage them from military action to the Sri Lankan Sarvodaya marching for peace in south without conducting parallel marches in the LTTE-controlled north where crimes against humanity and war crimes are committed by the internationally banned LTTE. ( See latest Amnesty International Report - February 3, 2006) Overview of NGO problems

Both, Operational and Advocacy groups have raised serious concerns in Sri Lanka.

Both groups survive essentially on foreign funding.

Both groups compete fiercely for the dwindling dollar.

Both run closed-shops operating behind closed doors with minimum transparency and accountability.

Both are seen as corrupt agencies serving their needs more than that of the community.

Both groups have become the target of media, political parties, academia.

NGO Corruption 1

NGOs are plagued with many forms of corruption. Lavish spending is one form. For instance the police had to be called in to restrain the public throwing stones at NGOs holding a conference on poverty alleviation in a five-star in a coastal hotel down south.

Police are investigating complaints by women workers in a foreign-funded NGO in the east who were driven in vans of the NGOs to perform in porno movies.

Authorities got wind of it when one of the young unmarried woman was admitted to hospital with pregnancy.

NGO Corruption 2

Some NGOs have become a haven for retired politicians and corrupt public officials kicked out for malpractices.

Some of the top executives use NGO funds to go on family jaunts abroad in the guise of promoting peace. They take their wives and children along on trips abroad though they have nothing to do with the official mission.

NGO Corruption 3

Neelan Tiruchelvam, the founder head of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) - a foreign funded research centre on ethnic issues had no qualms about wearing two hats simultaneously.

He continued to be the head of the ICES whilst being a member and ideologue of the Tamil United Liberation Front, a political party that has pioneered an pursued the mono-ethnic politics of the Jaffna peninsula. He also functioned as an MP of the Tamil National Alliance, now seen as the proxy for the banned terrorist organisation, the LTTE.

Can an NGO which openly subscribes to partisan politics of an ethnic group also be the head of an NGO which is supposed to be an independent institution established to research ethnic issues objectively?

(To be continued Next week.)