I agree NGOs are not the answer. But if they weren't
there, a lot of good work would not be done,
especially in countries the world over. The work of
Actionaid, Save the Children, is solid, people-focused
and very useful; without them, a lot of communities
would be worse off.

I absolutely agree that Governments need to take their
responsiblity. But when I see the appalling
healthcare, and other 'social services' in the UK and
in the US, I almost feel bad that there are no CBOs or
NGOs to help. I don't believe that waiting for the
government to come and take up its responsibility is
the answer. In some of our projects we collaborate
with the governmengt for sustainability. This is in
the works with the national child labour elimination
project, also with some aspects of the community owned
schools. 

Governments are political organisations and they are
brilliant at developing areas they want to develop.
For example, the highways leading to Afghanistan from
Pakistan are world class. One of the most stunning
drives I have ever experienced was to the Salt Range
Mountains. But the government has neglected to develop
the surrounding areas. And anything a few kilometres
away from the highway is deserted. That is where
organisations like DfID (the UK equivalent of USAID,
sort of) and others like Save the Children, Mercy
Corps (INGOs) have stepped in to help in areas of
agriculturel water, women's rights, education, etc.

NGOs as I said are doing the government's job. I also
dislike the manner in which most NGOs treat their
expat staff, as if they are deprived of a life of
luxury hence need to be recompensated with crazy
salaries, accommodation, paid holidays (there is a
great satirical song about NGOS and the World Bank
working in "developing countries".) and send their
"experts" to "developing countries", when there is so
much local brilliance available in most countries. The
irony is that most of these expats don't even speak
the language of the locals, a real shame and
completely disrespectful towards their local
colleagues and the beneficiaries they work with. I
doubt I could come and consult as an education expert
in the US and not speak the language and develop and
evaluate a programme. 

There is also a disadvantage of being a government
supported programme like say UNICEF or something else:
like forcing the curriculum developed by the
University of Nebraska on Afghanistan.....

Without volunteers, no programme in any country would
survive. Bush Sr axed community programmes, it's true.
But in my experience, volunteers are not "permanent"
in the sense there is a high turnover which like it or
not does affect implementation and impact. Most of the
in country programmes I've seen have a majority of
paid staff because they are professional organisations
with educated, qualifed staff who are doing the job as
a career and profession. And that is indeed how it
should be. Why should development be a volunteer
'charity' profession? Some of us have studied long and
hard and attained high degrees to be able to work in
this field and are still not recompensed as
professionals in other fields. But we work here
because in most cases, there is a passion to do the
best we can.

The government is a fickle friend: change the
politicans and change the policy. Start a war and then
make money out of reconstruction. Have a disaster and
let's change the direction of the funds. 

I wish the governments of the world would take
responsibility for their citizens: then NGOs and this
imperialistic, colonial way of helping the people of
the world would end.

regards
Ujwala 



--- Bertha Mo <bertiemo at yahoo.com> wrote:


> NGOs aren't the Answer...

> 

> In case that anyone thinks NGOs are the anwer, here

> is a perspective from Ottawa, Canada.

> 

> I've lived in both the US and Canada.  I have to

> tell you that despite all the good work of NGOs,

> government should be made to play its role because

> in many cases the government has more money than the

> NGO sector.  And if the government isn't able to

> collect taxes in an organized manner then it should

> be looking into that situation.

> 

> I used to work for the City and County of San

> Francisco where I had a living wage, benefits and

> was protected by a union.  My colleagues working in

> the private sector worked just as hard, for lower

> wages and less security.  Many of us had similar

> training.

> 

> This situation made me very resentful when Bush

> senior talked about "the hundred points of light"

> during the beginning of his presidency.  He reduced

> government spending on social programs and asked

> volunteers (the 100 points of light) to take over.  

> 

> Excuse me Mr. Bush, but even when I worked full-time

> I volunteered part time in the community.  Most

> people do volunteer.

> 

> In my adopted city, Ottawa, our new mayor, Mr.

> O'Brien is wooing tax payers by saying that he is

> going to reduce taxes (that only applies to

> homeowners who actually can afford to own a house

> and pay taxes on it) and NGOs and the private sector

> are going to make up the slack.  I'd like to know

> how volunteers are going to contribute to

> recreational services (pools, recreational facities

> such as sports fields), library facilities, public

> schools, busing for school children, public

> transportation, policing and municipal justice.  

> 

> Organizations such as Red Cross, United Way, Planned

> Parenthood, American and Canadian Cancer Society,

> American and Canadian Diabetic Association are NGOs

> or voluntary agencies.  They have their role, but

> government which is funded by our taxes has a larger

> role to play.

> 

> Bertie

> 

> povertyracewomen-request at nifl.gov wrote: Send

> PovertyRaceWomen mailing list submissions to

>  povertyracewomen at nifl.gov

> 

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> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it

> is more specific

> than "Re: Contents of PovertyRaceWomen digest..."

> 

> 

> Today's Topics:

> 

>    1. [PovertyRaceWomen 283] Re: GED

>       programswithapopulareducationapproach (Elsa

> Auerbach)

>    2. [PovertyRaceWomen 284] Re: NGO's (Andrea

> Wilder)

>    3. [PovertyRaceWomen 285] Re: PovertyRaceWomen

> Digest, Vol 3,

>       Issue 32 (reply to Mrs. Murvin-King) (Andrea

> Wilder)

> 

> 

>

----------------------------------------------------------------------

> 

> Message: 1

> Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:19:13 -0500

> From: "Elsa Auerbach" 

> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 283] Re: GED

>  programswithapopulareducationapproach

> To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy

> Discussion List"

>  

> 

> Message-ID: 

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> 

> Another caution:  reading theory/research suggests

> that readers' background knowledge, reading

> strategies, and conceptions of reading shape

> comprehension.  What this means is that whether or

> not a text is 'readable' for a given reader depends

> on the relationship between the text and the reader:

> how much prior knowledge does the reader have of the

> subject matter? interest? knowledge of the genre?

> related cultural knowledge? etc. etc.  So any given

> reader may be able to read texts of widely different

> 'readability' levels depending on a range of

> factors.  It is a huge mistake to think that

> readability is inherent in a text rather than a

> product of the interaction between the reader and

> the text.  The same person can read something with a

> 'high' readibility level if he/she is interested in

> the text, engaged with the subject matter, etc. and

> read another text with a 'low' level that she/he has

> no interest in/background for, etc. 

> 

> Elsa Auerbach

> > ----------

> > From:  povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf

> of Andrew Pleasant

> > Reply To:  The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy

> Discussion List

> > Sent:  Friday, January 12, 2007 8:40 AM

> > To:  The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy

> Discussion List

> > Subject:  [PovertyRaceWomen 278] Re: GED

> programswithapopulareducationapproach

> > 

> > <>

> > Hi,

> > 

> > A caution that should be followed about all these

> readability formulas (and there are many), along

> with not labeling by grade or age levels as much as

> possible, is that these tools give insights but not

> complete solutions. An inappropriate use of these,

> in my opinion, is to produce or revise materials by

> solely relying following these algorithms as a guide

> to plain language. We can produce sentences and

> documents that 'test out' as easy to read but are

> actually quite confusing. A classic example - flying

> planes can be dangerous - is quantitatively judged

> by these tools as easy to read, but qualitatively

> (which the automated tools cannot assess) just what

> is dangerous - flying a plane or a plane that is

> flying? 

> > 

> > Andrew

> > 

> > 

> > 

> > On 1/11/07, Ujwala Samant  wrote:

> > 

> >  Hi Susan,

> > 

> >  I think it would be a very useful tool for people

> who

> >  write manuals, textbooks etc.

> >  Thanks

> >  Ujwala

> > 

> > 

> > 

> > 

>

____________________________________________________________________________________

> 

> >  Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from

> people who know.

> >  Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com

> > 

> ----------------------------------------------------

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> >  Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list

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> settings, please go to

>

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

> > 

> > 

> > 

> > 

> 

> 

> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 2

> Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:16:21 -0500

> From: Andrea Wilder 

> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 284] Re: NGO's

> To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy

> Discussion List"

>  

> 

> Message-ID:

> <223f663f2319520317544ae028650339 at comcast.net>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII;

> delsp=yes; format=flowed

> 

> 

> 

=== message truncated ===>
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