Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are behind many social and communal movements that people have witnessed over the years. Whereas NGOs in Nepal are credited for their contributions, they are also subjected to many criticisms. There are about 15,000 active NGOs in Nepal.
The NGO Federation of Nepal claims itself to be the umbrella organisation of these NGOs operating in Nepal which supports different forms and scales of NGOs as well as INGOs operating in Nepal. Arjun Bhattarai, the general secretary of the NGO Federation of Nepal says, his organisation also lobbies and advocates for the rights and security of the NGOs in Nepal.
Bhattarai, who has been involved in the NGO movement in Nepal for more than two decades, took over the role at the federation in 2022. A social work graduate from Norway, Bhattarai spoke to Onlinekhabar about the NGOs operating in Nepal and their plans, on the occasion of World NGO Day.
Excerpts:
How do you see the work of NGOs in Nepal? Where is the focus?
There are many NGOs active across the country. Many NGOs are working as social enterprises whereas a whole section of the NGOs in Nepal is working in the health, environment and education sectors, in favour of children and women. Other sectors include access for the differently-abled, LGBTQIA+ community, human rights, environmental rights, climate justice and capacity-building projects among others.
The federation has about more than 6,000 organisations registered under its umbrella including those working in social enterprise, aama samuha (women’s group), child clubs, youth clubs, and other big or small enterprises. In addition, around 150 international NGOs are networking with us. They are all part of our social enterprise movement.
What is this social enterprise movement, or the movement of NGOs in Nepal, all about?
The main objective of it is to promote and convince others that there should be more social enterprises and promote local products, create more job opportunities for the youth that are now likely to travel abroad as migrant workers, as well as make the system more organised, under one umbrella.
Through that, we also hope that the objectives, action plans and targets that the government has set and is obliged to follow like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are fulfilled.
From the federation, we are also pushing the donor organisations to shift their focus from awareness campaigns to more employment-generating programmes, enhance the daily lives of the people and improve service delivery and increase access for common people. We are encouraging more investment in social enterprises and digital governance. We also hope to encourage them to see NGOs in Nepal as collaborative partners, in one or all society-oriented programmes and initiatives.
How do the NGOs in Nepal celebrate World NGO Day? What are your focus topics for the Federation this year?
To mark the day, the federation has been and will organise the discussion and other events. Our main focus is to make the country NGO-friendly by easing the complexities regarding the operation and regulation of the organisations. It is the day we reiterate that the NGOs of Nepal should be accountable, and transparent and work at the grassroots level.
But the focus this year will be more on implementing the 2015 constitution and making service delivery more smooth and securing fundamental human rights. The work of the NGOs is to strengthen all three tiers of the government, so we are looking into that.
What are the basic misconceptions that people have about NGOs in Nepal?
In the most basic sense, NGOs are running in all sectors including the children, women or youth clubs, local clubs and or guthis in every nook and cranny, contributing to the nation. So people need to widen their understanding of it and the difference between NGOs and INGOs, donor organisations, and bilateral or multilateral ones.
One of the major prevalent misconceptions is that NGOs in Nepal are all “dollar khetis” (cultivating dollars or a place where there is more money). But that is wrong as it originates from limited understanding. The NGOs in Nepal have been very hands-on with their approach contributing Rs 7.2 billion in cash to the Covid pandemic response and Rs 5.2 billion in cash to the 2015 earthquake response.
First, it is not that the NGOs get the funding as soon as they open. And second, if they get the funding, that is a good thing for the country as they will put that money into the welfare of the citizens here. The NGOs get only 4 to 5 per cent of the international funding from the donors but the funds also are not on loan so it further relieves the organisation and the nation.
Besides such charges, what are the other challenges that NGOs in Nepal face?
There are many complexities in the registration, renewal and fund clearance for the active NGOs, which we are trying to ease. One thing to mention here is that CIVICUS, a global NGO alliance, has enlisted Nepal as ‘obstructed’ which, if continued, will hamper the funding that Nepal gets and we will have to get loans to get through, pushing Nepal to the verge similar to Sri Lanka. The bureaucratic hassles that Nepal has only repel the donor organisation so we are aiming for the funds to stay here.
Third, if the organisations get the funding, they have to go to different channels to get approval from all tiers of the government and the Social Welfare Council, adding to the complexities. The NGOs need to clarify their source and expenditures with proper audits at every step whereas the federation is mindful to take action against anyone that violates the regulations too.
Yet NGOs in Nepal get a bad reputation although private organisations are doing much worse in the same parameters.
What are your plans to ensure that your plans turn into action?
The country went into federalism, but due to the lack of updates, the provincial governments have not been able to authenticate or implement the draft they have made at their level.
Three laws guide the NGOs in Nepal in general–the Associations Registration Act (1977), National Guidance Act (1961) and Social Welfare Act (1992). Though the NGOs in Nepal have contributed a lot to national development, these acts have not been able to get an update. So, we plan to intervene there and make progress.
The federation gets involved in advocacy and policy-making as well as intervention. We have studied and monitored more than 150 laws, from which we could conclude that civil rights have been marred and shrunk without proper consultation of the stakeholders.
More youth are getting into social enterprise and they have brilliant ideas, but the government has not given them a conducive environment to grow or to contribute to the country and are forced to go abroad. For this, we are also pushing that the government introduce social entrepreneurship as a subject at school levels too and include more vocational or skill-based programmes in the curriculum. If the government cannot ensure that, it should close all its activities here and at least teach the students a foreign language-based curriculum so that they at least become a competent workforce when they go abroad.
We are also looking into the implementation of the law and coordination among the stakeholders of NGOs in Nepal too. But the unstable and ever-changing government and ministers have been a hassle, putting brakes to any progress we had made for the amendments.
