A Brief Note on NGOs and Civil Society Representation

- Govinda Neupane

Nepal has a long history of voluntary services. During the initial stage of civilization, the people had some sorts of social organizations, which were called "Sithi", "Guthi", "Nangkhur", "Chumlung", "Noghar", "Bheja", "Khel", etc. These were loosely connected social agencies. They mobilized masses in civic tasks. They were the first generation social organizations.

The second generation organizations included Arya Samaj, Mahila Samiti (Women's Committee), Gorkha League, Nepal Charkha Pracharak Gandhi Smarak Mahaguthi (Gandhi Memorial Trust for Propagating Spinning in Nepal) popularly known as "Mahaguthi", Nepal Nagarik Adhikar Samiti (Committee for Civil Rights in Nepal), Paropakar Sanstha (Welfare Association), etc. These organizations played significant roles in making people aware, extending services and availing skills for making the life of disadvantaged families a bit better.

The third generation organizations had clear orientation on service delivery. The well known organizations in this category included Nepal Tuberculosis Control Association, Nepal Family Planning Association, Nepal Red Cross Society, Nepal Leprosy Control Association, etc. These organizations were established primarily to mobilize local and foreign donations to supplement the government programs. Therefore, they were not non-government, but semi-government organizations by nature.

The fourth generation organizations could be categorized in five groups - 1) civil society groups, 2) service contract agencies, 3) social business ventures, 4) professional associations, and 5) donor's children.

1) Among the civil society groups, there are hundreds of local organizations and initiatives, and a few large conglomerations such as Community Forest User's Federation. These groups are certainly the voluntary agencies and initiatives. Their primary mission is to help themselves, collectively. Although, they may implement some activities and projects by contracting from the donors, but that is not the place where their soul rests at. They are motivated by the zeal to do something good for their community and also for others, if and when possible. They may be small, but putting all of them together, they are the largest group within non-government social sector in Nepal.

2) The service contract agencies pretend that they are part of the larger civil society, whereas their primary motivation is to getting contracts for implementing projects in many areas such as installing physical facilities, delivering services, running political campaigns that may include but not limited to human rights, child rights, minority rights, women's rights, civil rights, strengthening democracy, etc. As there are large agencies within this group, it makes tall claim of civil society leadership. The service contract agencies are much more vulnerable in making compromises with the funding agencies, particularly with the foreign governmental agencies. Sometimes, they play with the image of the nation and dignity of its people. They may not hesitate to project Nepal as a country of traffickers or child solders or drug addicts as long as there is money in dollar bills available for them under these banners. Another dimension of the functioning of these agencies also raises question on their credibility as social organizations. In fact, most of them have been functioning as sister organizations of certain political parties, clandestinely. Many agencies in this group are led by either a political leader with open political identity or a person, whose political affinity to a particular party is well known. Therefore, if someone has misunderstood them and is expecting their neutral role, that person could only be frustrated.

3) The practitioners of the social business ventures are clear on their mission that they will work outside the government system, but provide the same services at reasonable cost and with better quality. The Public Health Concern Trust (PHECT) and its Model Hospital could be one such example. (But, the private nursing homes and private hospitals are not social business ventures, they are outright private businesses.) The social business ventures are transparent and they do not make tall claims too. They are simply healthy institutions, socially.

4) The professional associations work in the best interest of their respective professionals. Sometimes, they extend support to other professionals and fellow citizens as well when there is a great need of their support. A few prominent associations in this group include Nepal Medical Association, Nepal Engineering Association, Nepal Nursing Association, Nepal University Teachers' Association, Nepal Teachers' Union, Nepal Bar Association, etc. These associations are the glorious organizations for the respective professionals and also are the gems of the Nepalese nation.

5) The group comprising of donors' children is busy minting money. In this group, there are two types of children - biological and foster. Either the donors gave birth or they adopted. The donors' children have very good antennas and also are blessed with wonderful sense of smell. They could spot out the availability of fund for a particular activity from a distance of thousands of kilometers. These groups may call themselves as research organizations, conflict prevention groups, peace promoters, anticorruption campaigners, democracy defenders, environment protection angels, friends of internally displaced people, community support organizations etc, but they are dependant on the availability of donor's fund and are ready to put everything under donors' wishes. They utilize such funds on donors' plans and take a large pie of the cake for themselves. These groups are not different than the riflemen/women at Chhauni (army training center/field). Both of them parade. But, the Chhauni group parades in uniform in front of their officers in public, whereas the donor's children parade in civilian dresses in front of their donors in private. The Chhauni group parades to ensure survival of their families, whereas the donor's children parade for arranging luxury, comfort, prestige and power. It is nonsense on the part of common men and women to expect from them meaningful contributions to lessen the burden of fellow citizens. It is strange to watch when they portrait themselves as Messiah of the Masses and the Savior of the Nation!

All five groups mentioned above are non-government organizations. Therefore, there is nothing wrong to say them as non-government. But, when their nature and roles are under scrutiny, they are different.

Recently, it has been in discussion that one third of the members in the interim legislature and interim government should go to civil society. In this context, it becomes necessary to understand the civil society in specific term. One has to be clear that the Donor's children are not part of the civil society, nor are the service contract agencies. Similarly, the social business ventures also may not qualify. There may or may not be unanimity about the professional associations. Hence, if there is agreement to give the civil society some representation in the interim arrangement, only civil society groups and conglomerations (also professional associations?) should get consideration from non-government social sector together with other civil society actors such as media. In fact, the legislation and execution of the state function is the area of expertise and responsibility of the politicians and political parties. Therefore, it is strange to give representation to civil society as a combined formation in the legislative and executive. This proposal either considers the so-called civil society organizations (particularly, service contract agencies and donors' children) and their executives as political parties and political leaders respectively or forwards no confidence motion against the political parties and political leaders of the country.