Page 194 - Volume 1_Go home mzungu Go Home_merged with links

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20 century 'zuŋ u 'not for profit' empires
"Veni, Vidi, Vici ",Steti - ego adduxit amicis meis

From counterproductive attitudes to the outright stealing of ideas, here are four
particular challenges in the existing ways in which international NGOs partner with local
ones in order to "help" them.

Firstly, many staff in INGOs have damaging negative attitudes towards their local
partners and believe they are superior because they hold the funding. It is difficult to find
partnerships between international and local organisations that demonstrate the equal

respect that is warranted. International partners are always quick to take credit for the
successes of their local partners, yet ready to put all the blame on those same partners

when there are failures.

Secondly, INGOs frequently focus on donor compliance – i.e. conforming to all the
relevant standards and policies – over actual impact. Compliance is important, of

course, but not more important than the positive intended impact of the work in the first
place.

Thirdly, INGOs often presume that all their partners should look like them – i.e. follow a

Western model or structure. But civil society organisations should look and sound
different! A social movement, youth association, union, women's cooperative or coalition
won't all look the same and may not be structured like a Western NGO, but that doesn't

devalue their impact. At its foundation, civil society is supposed to be a way of
organising people in society. This means that many groups aren't and perhaps shouldn't

be formal organisations with the associated structures. Yet many INGOs continue to
want to "NGOise civil society" without understanding the harm they are doing in the
process.

Finally, the blunder that is perhaps most frustrating is when INGOs end up competing
with their local counterparts. Instead of building up civil society, they intrude on their
space. I have witnessed INGOs shamelessly copy the ideas of local organisations and

use their own considerable resources to duplicate and upstage others' efforts. They
usually miss the mark, however, because they lack the local connection and

understanding.

"When International NGOs Try to 'Help' Local Ones and Fail." 186
African Arguments (May 2019)

*****
Secret aid worker: it's one standard for local staff and another for expats

How is it fair that my colleague at an NGO lay in agony for 20 days before surgery – while
as an expat, I was whisked to world-class medical care in hours?