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What are NGOs?
Essentially Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) are organisations which are:
(i) not based in government; and (ii) not created to earn a profit.
NGOs vary greatly according to philosophy, purpose, programs, approach, scope
of activities, expertise and structures.
- Philosophy
- Purpose - religious, secular, work with specific groups such as women
or children
- Operational orientation - relief, welfare, development, advocacy
- Program approach - service delivery, participatory activities
- Expertise and accountability - professionals, skilled volunteers
- Scope of activities
- Sectors - health, governance, environment, education
- Geographical - specific community, country, region
- Education - workshops, newsletters, resources, speakers, fundraising
activities
- Advocacy - community involvement and high level negotiation to highlight
underlying issues and effect policy changes with decision makers
- Structures - small, community or grassroots groups, global hierarchies,
which may have a strong central authority or a loose federal arrangement and
focus on a broad range of issues. Improvements in information communication
technology mean more local groups have become active at the national or even
the global level, increasingly through coalitions and umbrella groups.
Codes of Conduct
The great diversity of NGOs and their supporters can lead to difficulty in knowing
who to support. Some level of accountability is provided through the Code of
Conduct coordinated through the Australian Council for International Development
(ACFID), the coordinating body for Australian non government overseas aid agencies.
About 110 NGOs have signed the ACFID Code which means they undertake to run
a well-managed organisation, to be financially transparent, and to uphold an
agreed set of values and principles in both the work they support overseas and
in the fundraising and educational activities they run in Australia.
For links to NGOs: http://www.acfid.asn.au/
Australian government and NGOs
In Australia NGOs who meet certain criteria may receive government funding to
undertake specific programs. They may have the expertise and experience in different
forms of aid delivery such as broad community development, specific sectoral
activities such as maternal and child health or the ability to respond rapidly
to emergency situations. Other NGOs may be doing valuable work but be too small
or working in countries or sectors which are not the Australian government's
priorities.
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/ngos/default.cfm
Responding to need
The following is a brief list of questions to help you and your students start
considering how to respond to the many needs and requests for assistance you
receive:
- Does the organisation's philosophy match your own?
- Does the organisation work in the country and sector you want to focus upon?
- Has the organisation signed the ACFID Code of Conduct?
- If the request is from a person or group supporting an NGO what accountability
are they promising?
Remember a promise to donate money raised is after the costs have been deducted
and may not be very much if the activity has not been properly funded and
costs are not controlled.
- What sort of information is provided and feedback offered? (eg regular reports,
speaker, online activities)
Remember that this generally takes away from the time and money that can be
spent for the nominated program.
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