THE ALMS BAZAAR THE ALMS BAZAAR Altruism under fire - non-profit organizations and international development IAN SMILLIE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTRE Ottawa• Cairo • Dakar• Johannesburg• Montevideo• Nairobi New Delhi • Singapore Published in Canada by International Development Research Centre PO Box 8500, Ottawa, ON, Canada KlG 3H9 © lntermediate Technology Publications 1995 ISBN 0-88936-781-7 Typeset by Dorwyn Ltd, Rowlands Castle, Hants Printed in UK by SRP, Exeter Contents ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS vii AN IRREVERENT GLOSSARY X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xiii INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE: THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX Doomsters and cornucopians 7 II Naming the rose: what is an NGO? 22 III Northern NGOs: the age of innocence 37 IV Southern NGOs 60 PART TWO: NGOs TODAY V The pink elephant: empowerment and the status of women 81 VI Disasters: some came running 98 VII Mixed messages: NGOs and the Northern public 124 VIII Management, memory and money 147 PART THREE: NOW THE TRUMPET IX Dependence and independence in the contracting era 167 X Partners 181 XI Act globally: the rise of the transnational NGO 197 XII Democracy, participation and the rights stuff 214 XIII Future conditional 238 NOTES 258 BIBLIOGRAPHY 277 INDEX 283 V Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms ... but as a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation; a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ACFOA Australian Council for Overseas Aid ADAB Association of Development Agencies of Bangladesh ADRA Adventist Relief and Development Agency ADF African Development Foundation (USA) AIDAB Australian International Development Assistance Bureau AKF Aga Khan Foundation AKRSP Aga Khan Rural Support Programme AM REF African Medical and Research Foundation BRAC Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee CAFOD Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (UK) CAP ART Council for the Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (lndia) CARE Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (US); else­ where not usually an acronym CCIC Canadian Council for International Cooperation CEBEMO Central Agency for the Co-Financing of Development Pro­ grammes (Netherlands) CEDEP Centre for the Development of People (Ghana) CFC Chlorofluorocarbons CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CIDSE Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité CRS Catholic Relief Services cuso Canadian University Service Overseas (now no longer an acronym) DEC Disasters Emergency Committee (UK) DAWN Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era EC European Commission FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FASE Federation of Organizations for Social and Educational Assistance (Brazil) FINNIDA Finnish International Development Agency GAD Gender and Development GDP Gross Domestic Product GNP Gross National Product vii GO NGO Government-Organized NGO ICCO Inter Church Coordination Committee for Development Projects (Netherlands) ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IDRC International Development Research Centre IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development IIED International Institute for Environment and Development INGO International NGO ISCA International Save the Children Alliance ISO DEC Integrated Social Development Centre (Ghana) ITDG Intermediate Technology Development Group (UK) ITN Independent Television News IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUEF International University Exchange Fund MSF Médecins sans Frontières NO RAD Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation NOVIB Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation OAU Organization of African Unity ODA Official Development Assistance ODA Overseas Development Authority (UK) OECD Organization for Economie Co-operation and Development OPP Orangi Pilot Project (Pakistan) ORAP Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (Zimbabwe) PSC Public Service Contractor SAP Structural Adjustment Programme SCF Save the Children Fund (UK) SCF Save the Children Federation (US) SEWA Self-Employed Women's Association SIDA Swedish International Development Authority SSA Sub-Saharan Africa TNC Trans National Corporation UNHCR United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNCED United Nations Conference on the Environment and Oevel opment UNDP United Nations Development Program UNEP United Nations Environmental Program UNESCO United Nations Education and Scientific Council UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNIFEM United Nations Fund for Women USAID United States Agency for International Development vo Voluntary Organization vso Voluntary Service Overseas WAD Women and Development viii WDF Women's Development Federation WHO World Health Organization WID Women in Development WWF Working Women's Forum (India) WWF World Wide Fund for Nature WWF World Wildlife Fund (US and Canada) ix AN IRREVERENT GLOSSARY (Not in alphabetical order) Donation The act of giving; from Latin, donum, gift. Donor One who makes a donation or gift. In international de­ velopment work, it can mean someone who gives .f.5 to ActionAid or $5 to the American Friends Service Commit­ tee; it can mean a bilateral agency (see below) or a multi­ lateral agency (also below). Sometimes it can refer to a voluntary organization - like the Red Cross. Where it refers to bilateral and multilateral agencies, it is often used incorrectly, as some ofthese provide loans or assis­ tance tied to the purchase of goods and services in their own countries. This blends 'giving' with an element of banking, and with subsidies for the private sector. ODA 'Official Development Assistance' is concessional assis­ tance from governments. It may include tied aid and loans but it must include a grant element of at least 25 per cent. Not to be confused with the British Overseas Development Administration, which is a bilateral agency administering the Official Development Assistance of the British Government. Bilateral Something undertaken by two parties. In the development business it means government-to-government aid, but it is also used as a noun, referring to goyernmental aid agen­ cies such as the British Overseas Development Admin­ istration or the US Agency for International Development. Multilateral As a noun, it refers to multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Umbrella agency An odd expression when you think about it. In the de­ velopment business it usually refers to organizations that act as clearing houses or that provide co-ordinating, in­ formation and advocacy services on behalf of member agencies. Most Australian NGOs, for example, belong to the Australian Council for Overseas Aid; in Bangladesh X they belong to the Association of Development Agencies of Bangladesh. Sorne, like these, are national; others are regional (e.g. Eurostep), and some have functional or religious underpinnings. Nouns to verbs If adjectives like 'bilateral' and 'multilateral' can be trans­ formed into nouns, nouns can become verbs. Although this practice is not unique to the development business, it has some regulars: 'to network', 'to access', 'to partner' (e.g. 'This project was partnered with the Canadian Hun­ ger Foundation'). Documents Usually just a fancy way of saying 'papers' (as in 'project documents'). Surplusage Mark Twain's Twelth Rule of Literary Style - 'Avoid sur­ plusage' - is generally ignored. In the development business, people favour long words: 'document' often becomes 'documentation'; 'preventive' turns into 'pre­ ventative'. And one does not impose 'conditions'; most documentation refers more politely to 'conditionalities'. Sector This word is as elastic as 'downtown'. As a subdivision of society, 'the private sector' is well known. This book deals primarily with the 'voluntary sector', sometimes called the 'non-profit sector' or 'third sector'. In develop­ ment work, there are a lot of other sectors: the 'health sector', the 'education sector', the 'formai sector' (busi­ ness and industry), the 'informa! sector' (unregulated and unregistered business and industry). Enabling To make possible or easy, to facilitate. Almost always used in connection with the word 'environment', al­ though it has nothing to do with ecology. First used in a development context by H.H. The Aga Khan in a 1982 speech in Nairobi: 'Social institutions in national de­ velopment; the enabling environment'. Linkage Any form of communication. Partnership Any form of linkage (see Chapter X). Technical This refers to the sending of 'experts', usually from the assistance North to the South, to assist, teach or manage projects. 'Volunteers' like the Peace Corps and VSO are seldom referred to as 'technical assistance', however, even though they may be well qualified. 'Technical assistance' is usually coïncident with the expression 'highly paid'. Technical assistance to Africa in 1989 absorbed $3.3 billion. In an article on the subject, UNDP said that xi 'technical assistance, unlike turnips, has no independent measure of its value to the recipient. Instead, output is measured by input, such as salaries or man-months, con­ veying a deceptive impression of achievement when nothing may have been achieved.' (UNDP 1994, p.80) Expert Technical assistance. Resources Many meanings. 'Human resources' means 'people'. 'Human resource development' can mean training, but it usually refers more broadly to building the