NGO’s Urge Greater Freedom for Shaping Development Projects | Voice of America - English
Civil society organizations say an international framework called the Paris Declaration has increased their profile, helping them be more effective in their work promoting development. The declaration is an international document promoting the best possible use of aid. Kumi Naidoo is an official of World Alliance for Citizenship Participation, an NGO based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
"It looks likegovernments are more comfortable with the service delivery that civil societyorganizations [undertake]. For example, if you are addressing the problem ofdomestic violence and you run shelter and counseling services for women who arevictims of domestic violence, governments are okay with that. But if civilsociety organizations say we want you to develop a domestic violence Act,governments get more hesitant," he says. Naidoosays that civil society organizations and governments can work together incoordinating legislation: Hesays, "What we want to see is governments recognizing that civil society hasroom in terms of delivery of direct services. To have the space to share ourperspectives, our experiences, both from our successes and failures in thepolicy-making process." Hesaid too few people benefit from aid and that less than 50% of aid committed byrich countries actually leaves those countries. For example, donor money mayprovide scholarships for students to study in a western country or pay forexperts to travel to Africa. Andhe says the aid that's disbursed in Africa must trickle down to state and localgovernments. Naidoo adds thatimproved management strategies do help get aid to the poor and thattransparency must be encouraged at governmental levels to ensure that aidreaches the people it's meant for. He adds thatcivil society wants predictability, and if developing countries are to plan andexecute their own development strategies, they need to know that donor money ?and rules ? will remain constant over the duration of a project.