Eco-Ethics International Union: Vision for the NGO sector

To be delivered by Okeyo Benards as an oral and written memorandum to the Formulation of an NGO Sector National Policy at the Provincial Consultations on NGOs Sector Policy, May 21st and 22nd 2002 in Coast Province, Mombasa Municipal Hall, Mombasa, Kenya

Members of the NGO Sector National Policy Formulation team, members of the various NGOs represented here, interested audience staff and distinguished guests:- I greet you on this day when we come together as a nation to redeem, spur and offer statutory direction to our various Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). I take it as our day of hope. Perhaps the time is already come when it ought to be, and will be something else; when the poor, oppressed people and over-exploited natural resources of this country will look with hope from under their iron lids and filled with the postponed expectation of a world with something better than the short hands of our government. Our days of sheer applause for that additional help is drawing to close, as we face informed recipients of our actions and a concerned government about funds channelled through other hands. The millions that mill around the activities of NGOs cannot be supported by sere remains of the foreign harvests. Ways of supporting our local NGOs must be found, as well their foundation and operations must be checked by an agreed legislation. With humility, I offer my suggestions as below.

NGOs are getting involved in more and more complex operations of developmental work, promotion campaigns, environmental conservation and social actions of diverse magnititudes in this country. There is need for:

Commitment: to inculcate a sense of commitment and purpose to the objectives of the NGOs. The persons charged with the management of these bodies, should preferably be those of integrity as judged by their record of achievement. They should also not be engaged in other duties or jobs as is common with our local NGOs. This will ensure that they have enough time to dedicate for the attainment of the objectives for which these bodies were established. While it is appreciable that old members of our community have vast experiences in management aspects and good connections with donors, age is a vital ingredient in management drive and ingenuity that cannot be over shadowed. On this premise, I propose that top management of these bodies be pegged to a certain age limits, exceptions can be provided for by creating quasi management portfolios like Patrons, Seniors or Boss, as the names may be suggested for the respective NGOs to incorporate the interests of aged founders or financiers.

Idealism: the choking duplication of goals and objectives of various NGOs is a sign of lack of ideas. There is an innumerable tasks demanded of NGOs in the developing countries and there is no point in congesting a few areas of social action that requires no substantial intellectual and planning input. To be useful, NGOs must compete with governmental bodies in generation of new ideas and methodologies of combating poverty, illiteracy, diseases, poor infrastructure, environmental degradation to mention but a number. The interest that is pegged on soliciting for funds should equally be reflected in their quest for innovative means of achieving their intended goals. In fact, allow me to suggest that NGOs should establish a somewhat form of research with the intention of improving their means of delivery of services or materials. There is simply no other bodies to recommend better means of attaining their ends, except themselves and this is a price that they must be able to shoulder. I emphasize that the cordial function of most NGOs in this country as it is also in most of the developing world is to enable poor, oppressed or exploited groups of persons to acquire sufficient creative and transforming leverage as expressed in specific projects, acts and struggles to achieve goals of social and technological transformation.

Communication: this can be broadly divided into three facets namely;

communication with their clients

communication with donors

communication with partners and governmental bodies

You certainly will agree with me that most NGOs have perfected the means of communicating with the donors, but have done less in the front of communicating with the ordinary persons whom they intend to serve. This is evident by going through the written publications of these bodies that are in English and those that are in the local dialects that are easily understood by their clients (project beneficiaries).

The art of communication is certainly one of the core activities of NGOs. In the need for sustainable development that would capture social, economic and political justice and at the same time encourage the empowerment of disenfranchised people I regard communication as a vital tool for the achievement of these objectives. Communication comes handy as a tool for consciousness-raising and knitting together of a shared understanding of problems and creation of a vision for the future that leads to commitment and ownership by the people for which the intervention processes by the various NGOs are meant.

The springing up of most NGOs in this country have been as a result of inability of the government to deliver adequately in many areas of our needs. The intention then has been and continues to be, transformation of control over resources and institutions to disadvantaged groups, which have been excluded or deprived of such control or resources. This process requires a well channelled communication network, with lots of transparency in the processes of decision-making being made open to the involved clients (people intended to be served). With proper communication this process attains some level of accountability and the freedom of information or the right to know the operations of these bodies.

There is also the need to improve on the level of communication between the various local as well as international NGOs. This is a task that can better be handled by the NGO bureau or the National Council of NGOs. Registered NGOs can be supplied with a yearly bulletin listing the major projects carried out by the NGOs. This is bound not only to avoid duplication of activities but also to spur up networking between the various NGOs, i.e. by others consulting when faced with the same scenarios.

Efficiency: the level of wastage of resources within our Kenyan based NGOs is perhaps still too high. There needs to be an independent body to carry out research to find out the efficiency within which the resources of time, people and money allocated to various projects are utilized. There is also cases of prolonged delays of initiating projects. All these wastages and delays kill the efficiency of running these otherwise very vital engines of change in poverty ridden situations.

Development of the social capital: there is need to enhance components of social capital like the networks, norms, and the trust that facilitates the co-ordination and co-operation at the local level and interactions at the wide scale. This like proper communication network is bound to lower the costs of working together and so facilitates co-operation between people, and this is bound to be reflected in skills, experience, commitment among others. The four aspects of social capital, namely: trust, rules and sanctions; reciprocity; and connectedness need to be emphasized. Like advocating to increase natural capital by regenerative technologies which give a return whilst improving the capital stock, social capital will be self-reinforcing when exchanges and reciprocity increase connectedness between people, leading to greater trust and confidence in the work and efforts of our NGOs.

I close within the bounds of time, hoping my opinions may find useful considerations. Thanks.

By Okeyo Benards, B.Sc., M.Sc., Chair, EEIU Kenya/Mombasa, P.O. Box 1462, Mombasa, Kenya. Tel. 0722 605766

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