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Mainstream, VOL LVIII No 29, New Delhi, July 4, 2020
An open letter to International NGOs who are looking to ‘localise’ their operations
Saturday 4 July 2020
#socialtagsDOCUMENT
An open letter to International NGOs who are looking to ‘localise’ their operations
Our plea is that you work with us, not against us. We need to be supported, not competed with.
March 5th 2020
Dear INGOs:
Thank you for taking an interest in our countries. We represent a wide range of national and subnational organisations based in countries – mostly in the global south – where you often work. We have probably even been in meetings together or have been represented in the success stories you give to your supporters.
We appreciate that over the years, many of you have sought to help deliver much-needed services, and have helped to elevate some issues of concern, like debt relief, gender or climate change, to the world stage.
But times are changing. And you have (rightly) been facing a number of critiques in recent years – around your legitimacy, your ‘whiteness’ or the fact that far more aid money ultimately ends up in the pockets of northern organisations’ headquarters than it does in the Global South.
We see that you’re trying to respond to these critiques by ‘localising’, as we’ve been asked to meet with your highly paid consultants on numerous occasions. The strategy is pretty common: usually you start by creating a ‘local organisation’ with a local board. A next step that we’re seeing is that you enter the world of DRM – ‘Domestic Resource Mobilisation’ – to raise money from within our countries. This latter aspect is probably also down to the fact that your traditional incomes from the rich North/West are starting to diminish, so this has the added bonus of replenishing lost incomes.
In theory, this probably sounds great to your northern ears: local middle-income people should indeed ‘own’ their civil society, especially as a response to growing concerns around closing civic space and authoritarian governments. We couldn’t agree with you more on this principle.
But there are things we object to and some suggestions about how you can use your international muscle to help us more effectively than through this misguided localisation agenda.
What happens in practice is that these efforts only serve to reinforce the power dynamic at play, and ultimately to close the space for domestic civil society. This can be illustrated quite simply: a multi-million-dollar INGO, with an entire marketing, communications and fundraising team, whose project budget for this endeavour probably outstrips that of most of our national organisations for a year, then comes into the South to raise money ‘domestically’.
Perhaps the board has set a target of raising 30% of total income directly from the South. That’s not an additional million dollars, that’s a million or more dollars taken away from local civil society. And worse still, most of this money will be siphoned off to pay for their own inner workings, rather than be invested on the ground.
All of this serves to weaken us locally. It keeps us in a master/servant relationship continuously begging for grants from your institutions, while we remain bereft of core funding ourselves. This is not what we need or want.
Instead, here’s how you can be more helpful with your ‘DRM’ investment: if you are serious about ‘shifting power’ then reduce your footprint and brand and use your fundraising machinery to help grassroots organisations create the structures to fundraise for themselves and sustain their work.
We need the infrastructure for people to raise money domestically and from diaspora, not to be competing with big global INGOs. What is ultimately needed is to strengthen and scale up southern civil society, not to be pushed out of our own communities and markets.
Do you need to exist in every country with your brand? No. There are often local organisations, like ourselves, who work effectively on the ground, with better connections to the local community. And many of us also have the skills and capacity to represent our issues on the world stage.
We represent an eclectic mixture of organisations, but we are, increasingly, uniting under the banner or hashtag of #ShiftThePower and its “Manifesto for Change.”
Our plea is that you work with us, not against us. We need to be supported, not competed with, and certainly not replaced.
Sincerely,
A Mile Away (AMA), ZambiaAbibiman Foundation, GhanaACPDH/FS-DDH, BurundiActivate Labs, Mexico/USADESO, KenyaAdvocacy Core Team, ZimbabweAfrica Health and Nutrition, KenyaAfrican Diaspora Relocation AgencyAfrican Network of Youth Policy Experts, BotswanaAfrican Philanthropy NetworkAFroIDEA, Kenya, Uganda, Swaziland and NigeriaAgency for Peace and Development, KenyaAiravati Organisation (Hlaing Tsp), MyanmarAJSA, IndiaAlbanian Society for All Ages, AlbaniaAlliance for Holistic and Sustainable Development Communities (AHSDC), IndiaAMO Programme, GhanaApproche Participative, Développement et Santé de Proximité (APDSP), CameroonArusha Municipal Community Foundation, TanzaniaASDA, ChadAshake Foundation, NigeriaAssembly of Social Mobilization, Sri LankaAssociation Cri de Cœur pour l’Equité et le Développement (ACCED), Burkina FasoBalance Promoción para el Desarrollo y Juventud AC, MexicoBala Vikasa Social Service Society, IndiaBangladesh Internet Governance Forum, BangladeshBangladesh NGO Network for Radio and Communication, BangladeshBurundi Child Rights Coalition, BurundiCare for Nature Zambia, ZambiaCaring Volunteers Network (CAVNET), GhanaCaucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), PhilippinesCenter for Development Support Initiatives, NigeriaCenter for Economic Development – CameroonCentre for Peace and Democracy (CPD), SomaliaCentre Résolution Conflits (CRC), Democratic Republic of the CongoChild Care Center, IndiaChildren and Youth Development Society, IndiaCivil Society Empowerment Network, AfghanistanCOAST, BangladeshComite Regional de Solidarite des Femmes pour la Paix en Casamance, SenegalCommunity Care for Emergency Response and Rehabilitation, MyanmarCommunity Foundation for the Western Region of Zimbabwe, ZimbabweCommunity Self Reliance Centre, NepalCommunity Transformation Foundation Network (COTFONE) , UgandaCommunity World Service Asia, PakistanCORAFID Centre for Innovation and Research, NigeriaCouncillors for Development & Trainings, PakistanCoxs Bazaar CSO/NGO Forum, BangladeshDalia Association, PalestineDalit Community Foundation, IndiaDalit Women Fight, IndiaDevelopment and Justice Initiative, IndiaDevelopment Expertise Center, EthiopiaDevelopment Research and Advocacy, GhanaDr Meheret Ayenew, Research Fellow FSS and Adjunct Faculty, Addis Ababa University, EthiopiaEast Africa Philanthropy NetworkEcumenical Commission for Human Development, PakistanEmma Crewe, SOAS University of London, UKEquality for Growth, TanzaniaFamily for Every ChildFemPlatz, SerbiaFirelight FoundationFoundation for Civil Society in Tanzania, TanzaniaFoundation for Social Transformation, IndiaFree Expression Myanmar (FEM), MyanmarFriends, BangladeshFundaçâo Micaia, MozambiqueFund for Congolese Women, Democratic Republic of CongoGargaar Relief and Development Organisation, SomaliaGhana Philanthropy Forum, GhanaGlobal Fund for Community Foundations, South AfricaGlobal Information and Social Resource Foundation – GISRFGlobal Peace Association, GhanaGolden Red Foundation, IndiaGramin Evam Nagar Vikas Parishad (GENVP), IndiaGreenline Africa, ZimbabweGreenfield Africa Foundation, GhanaGreen String Network, KenyaHAQ: Centre for Child Rights, IndiaHard Rock Self-Sufficiency Foundation, NigeriaHEAPIDER-Concern, Inc., LiberiaHelp Foundation for Victims of Insurgency in Nigeria, NigeriaHelpers Social Development Foundation, NigeriaHope for Young Girls and Boys, ZambiaHope Village Society, EgyptHorn of Africa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO), Somaliland and EthiopiaHouse of Consciousness (HoC), ZambiaInclusive Climate Change Adaptation for a Sustainable AfricaIndonesia for Humanity (Indonesia untuk Kemanusiaan / IKA), IndonesiaInitiative Pananetugri pour le Bien-etre de la Femme, Burkina FasoInstituto de Comunicación y Desarrollo (ICD), UruguayInternational Foundation for Students and Youth Development (IFSYD), GhanaJijenge Youth Organization, KenyaJoint – Liga de ONGs em Mocambique, MozambiqueKaalo, SomaliaKeepers Zambia Foundation, ZambiaKenya Community Development Foundation, KenyaKenya Pastoralist Journalist Alliance Trust, KenyaK & R Welfare and Placement Services, Papua New GuineaLasphumakhona Community Development Projects (LCDP), South AfricaL’Association CEDRE 17 pour Un Développement Inclusif et Durable (AC17), MoroccoLes Jeunes Ambassadeurs de l’Environnement pour le Développement durable, GuineaLet Them Help Themselves (LTHT), UgandaLetsStopAIDS, CanadaLifeLine ONG, BeninLIN Center for Community Development, VietnamMajal, BahrainMakutano ya Wajasiriamali (MAWA), TanzaniaMars Football Foundation, IndiaMasila Ghana Foundation, GhanaMaurisante, MauritiusMauritius Council for Social Services, MauritiusMbao Ngula, ZambiaMigrant Support Network, GuyanaMILAP, NepalMizu Eco-Care, ZambiaMona Younis, Human Rights AdvocateMultikids Africa, GhanaNabadion Youth Alliance Southwest State, SomaliaNgetha Media Association for Peace (NMAP), UgandaNigerian Women Agro Allied Farmers Association, NigeriaNZP+ Mufumbwe, ZambiaOlive Luena Education Trust, TanzaniaOrbeliani, GeorgiaPACT Foundation, RomaniaPan African Positive Women’s Coalition, ZimbabweParticipatory Action for Community Empowerment Foundation (PEACE), ZambiaPeople’s Action Forum (PAF), ZambiaPersonal Initiative for Positive Empowerment (PIPE), KenyaPositive-Generation, CameroonProfessor Emma Crewe, Director, on behalf of Global Research Network on Parliaments and People, UKRawa Creative Palestinian Communities Fund, PalestineReaching the Unreached Tanzania (RUT), TanzaniaReality of Aid Africa Network, KenyaReformed Open Community Schools, ZambiaReproductive Health and Rights Advocacy Initiative (REHEaRD), NigeriaRéseau des Organisations de la Société Civile pour le Développement (RESOCIDE), Burkina FasoResilliance, MoroccoRita Thapa, Founder of Tewa – the Nepal Women’s Fund and Nagarik Aawaz, NepalRomanian Foundation for Children, Community and Family (FRCCF), RomaniaRuth Foundation, ZambiaSahakarmi Samaj, NepalSahara Advocates for Change, GhanaSalamander Trust, UKSangama, IndiaSave Somali Women and Children (SSWC), SomaliaSEED Malaysia, MalaysiaSelma Foundation, GhanaSense, IndiaSera Thabiti, KenyaSocial Life and Agricultural Development Foundation, SomaliaSolidarité Féminine pour la Paix et le Developpement Integral “SOFEPADI”, Democratic Republic of the CongoSolidarity Foundation, IndiaSomalia Humanity Support, SomaliaSomalia Women and Youth Empowerment Initiative, SomaliaSTAR Ghana Foundation, GhanaSuccess Capital Organisation, BotswanaSustainability Leadership Kosova, KosovoSustainable Impact for Development in Africa (SIDAF), CameroonTaakulo Somali Community, Somalia and EthiopiaTanzania Community Foundation Network, TanzaniaThubutu Africa Initiatives, TanzaniaTwerwaneho Listeners’ Club, UgandaUDYAMA, IndiaUganda National NGO Forum, UgandaUHAI-EASHIRI, KenyaUnited Social Welfare Society, PakistanUsikimye, KenyaVision Changers Kenya, KenyaWatershed Organisation Trust, IndiaWASDA, KenyaWajir South Development Association, Kenya and SomaliaWest Africa Civil Society Institute, GhanaWhole Planet Initiative, NigeriaWomen Aspire Network, GhanaWomen for India Foundation, IndiaXOESE – Le Fond pour les Femmes Francophones, TogoYayasan Usaha Mulia (Foundation for Noble Work), IndonesiaYou-Nik Children’s Initiative, ZambiaYoung Women Christian Association (YWCA) Mongu, ZambiaYouth Development and Voice Initiative (YOVI), GhanaYouth Harvest Foundation, GhanaYouthNet Nagaland, IndiaZambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB), ZambiaZambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD), ZambiaZambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC), ZambiaZambian Governance Foundation for Civil Society (ZGF), ZambiaZamzam Foundation, Somalia
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This letter, which originally appeared on Open Democracy and has since also been translated into French, Portuguese and Spanish, is the product of a protracted, heated, angry and passionate discussion that took place on the #ShiftThePower WhatsApp group in early March. Several people on the group had been approached separately by International NGOs who wanted to learn about their experiences in local fundraising and building community philanthropy, but in ways that all felt were ‘extractive.’ These interactions point to the growing trend for INGOs to look further afield for resources to fill the funding gap that many are experiencing.