From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERremain in the driver’s seat, working with civil society, the private sector,political parties, and other domestic actors to devise policies that fitnational needs.Without a change in mindset on the part of donors, however, Parisstyleco-ordination between aid providers could actually increase theirability to speak to recipient governments with a single voice, undermining‘nationally owned’ strategies that donors do not like. Donors shouldalso welcome, rather than fight, assertive governments such as Ghana,Botswana, or Afghanistan which insist on aid on their own terms.For their part, INGOs regularly criticise companies and governmentsboth North and South for their lack of responsiveness to peopleliving in poverty, but many NGOs are less formally accountable totheir supporters than governments are to their electorates, or companiesto their shareholders.INGOs have responded by improving their transparency (forexample, publishing their financial statements and policies), agreeingcodes of good practice on issues such as humanitarian relief work, adoptingmembership structures, and instituting peer reviews and regularconsultation with a range of ‘stakeholders’, including partner organisationsin developing countries. 165 In most countries, INGOs areaccountable by law to the host government (which can lead to tensionswhen states resent NGO activities). They are also subject to rigorousreporting requirements to their official funders. In 2006, 11 of the majorINGOs from the human rights, development, environment, andconsumer sectors created the INGO Charter of Accountability to set astandard for their members and to give stakeholders greater confidence. 166While activists from developing countries appreciate the supportthat their organisations receive from INGOs, they often complain thatINGOs are domineering, using their resources and skills to hog thelimelight, impose their own agendas, and lure talented staff away withthe promise of higher salaries. In the long term, this dynamic couldwell undermine the effort to build active citizenship in developingcountries, and is particularly significant in light of the growth ofincreasingly sophisticated Southern NGOs, which are challenging thetraditional roles of their Northern counterparts as intermediariesbetween Northern funders and poor communities and as ‘builders ofcapacity’ of grassroots organisations.376