Role of NGOs in Rural Development

Kigenyi Asifu

MA Rural Development

Department of Sociology

Makerere University

November 2011

Introduction

NGOs are legally constituted organizations created by natural or legal persons that operate independently from any government. The term originated from the united nations (UN) and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government, and are not convention for profit business. Essentially Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are organizations which are: (i) not based in government; and (ii) not created to earn a profit (Global Education 2001).

Some of the characteristics of NGOs are: they are not profit oriented, independent from the state, privately initiated, objectives and activities focus on development, have structured and systematic and formal activities or roles to play, and are engaged in charity and empowerment. They are local or international acting outside government arms (autonomous). According to the Convention of Biodiversity (CBD), they pursue the interests of one or more groups through lobbying and/or direct action.

Role of NGOs in Rural development

Both local and international NGOs have played a critical role to ensure that rural areas develop. They do that by developing programs that transform communities from miserable to humanly dignifying states. NGOs have positive characteristics which make their impact more readily felt and their activities result oriented. They emphasize self-reliance and underline popular participation in their activities (Olujide, M. 2006).

Agriculture Development

Since agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy, many organizations have channeled resources to it, for example, national research organization. It (NARO) gives guidance and coordinate all agricultural research activities (NARO 2011). Many other NGOs have come up with agricultural programs aims at fighting food insecurity like Hunger Project and Heifer Uganda. They provide training for sustainable livelihood and give agricultural aid to farmers to kick-start actual agricultural practice. With these services they have evidently reduced poverty, and may have improved food security and nutrition and achieved positive social change as well (Zeller, M., Sharma, M., Ahmed, A., & Rashid, S. 2001).

Appropriate Education with Rural Consideration

NGOs have played an important role of improving the education system that capture the real needs of a nation, like the agricultural practice and promotion in countries whose economy is dependent on it. According to Institute of Security Studies –Africa, agriculture in 1999/2000 accounted for about 42% of GDP and for the bulk of exports. The sector employs around 80% of the labor force.

Improvement in the Health Sector

NGOs have greatly contributed positively to the health sector in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and improvement in water access and sanitation, for example, the Uganda Village Project in Eastern Uganda is famed for public health promotions –in which the community health concerns, named above, fall. Other such organizations include: AIDS Information Center, The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), and The Elizabeth Glaser Foundation. They conduct counseling and HIV testing, empowers affected communities with vital health information for prevention and survival, and have networking bodies through which they pool resources to increase effectiveness of health programs management.

Support to HIV/AIDS Orphans

Among the programs run by most NGOs operating in rural areas is support for HIV/AIDS orphans. Uganda Village Project, in Iganga District has such a component, and so is TASO, and Mildmay. Others common in the area of HIV/AIDS orphan support are New Hope African Children Ministries located Busia, Eastern Uganda and Mama Jane in Jinja. The support offered attempts to address the general rights of children like right to education, right to health, and the right to education –all of which are met by NGOs. In 2010, 3,500 HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in the Rwenzori region benefited from the support from the Bantwana Initiatives, an international NGO (Nzinjah, J. 2010).

Housing and Access to Clean Water

NGOs develop programs aimed at improving housing conditions and access to clean water in areas with most need of them. The Union of Community Development Volunteers based in Mengo has upcountry activities (like borehole construction, community cleaning, and micro finance scheme) targeting most vulnerable communities in Bukomansimbi, Mpigi and Rakai Districts. Other related organizations are Slum Aid International and Habitat for Humanity. UNDP works with a wide range of partners in Uganda to create the space build capacity and offer the tools needed to integrate the MDGs into the planning and implementation of national policies (UNDP 2011).

Information Technology and Rural Transformation

Information Technology has been made part and parcel of rural advancement strategy. The Busoga Rural Open Source and Development Initiative (BROSDI) has been instrument at championing that cause through civil society empowerment in their efforts to transform rural communities (BROSDI 2011).

Promotion of Women Rights

It has been NGOs that have played a leading role n promotion of women rights. The federations of women lawyers (FIDA) offer a voice and free legal services to women. By helping to empower women, NGOs have in a way helped to accelerate development faster than ever. Women are now engaged in micro-finance projects to support families effectively, and helped transform men into responsible citizens –in as far as family care is concerned. FIDA does that nationally, regionally, and internationally (FIDA 2009).

Natural Conservation, Climate Change and Food Security

NGOs educate the masses about issues of climate change and environmental health –all of which hold life systems in in balance once moderated. By so doing, humanity is saved from numerous catastrophes like famine, scarcity and inflation (through actions like family planning education), and natural disasters. In Uganda, Save Mabira Crusade and a cluster of other NGOs have led such a Noble cause. Uganda's climate is naturally variable and susceptible to flood and drought events which have had negative socio-economic impacts in the past (Department for International Development 2008).

Civic Participation

NGOs have contributed to democracy and governance through research, information dissemination, training, and advocacy. The DEM Group has highly spoken of in regards to its work of education the masses about democracy and conducting election evaluation analyses. According to Deepening Democracy Program in Uganda (2005), civic education has potential to address this by enabling citizens to be appropriately informed so that they make considered decisions and play an active role in democratization. NGOs play an increasingly important role in expanding local service delivery capacity, demanding transparency and accountability, and advocating rights in various sectoral fields (education, water, etc.) as well as cross cutting issues such as human rights and cultural issues (Egli, W. & Zürcher, D. 2007).

The Misadventure of NGOs

Along the path of causing socioeconomic, sociopolitical, cultural and ecological developments NGOs, like any humanly engaging activity face some mishaps.

Less or No Grassroots Impact

NGOs have been criticized for lack of impact and rather being profit-oriented than genuinely service providers. High cost of administration makes it hard for organizations to survive. There have been lots of reports implicating orphanages in much abuse of children. Love Ministries Orphanage in Kisimu village in Nabweru sub-county in Wakiso district is one of such organizations closed for professing selfishness in pretext of orphaned children care (Ssenkaaba, S. 2011).

Internal Disharmony and Corruption

Reports, also, cite lack of harmony within NGOs. They fail to represent the same virtues preached by them when internal administration is marred my crises. The cause of the crises normally is the struggle for positions that scoop huge rewards. NGOs and CBOs, tend to have weak coordination mechanisms, small membership bases, and are dominated by strong personalities (NGO Resource Centre and Tanzania Association of NGOs 2008). And once funds begin to trickle in wars break up even more –leading to organization disrepute. Similarly, the mismanagement of funds in mainly smaller organizations threatens the good reputation of NGOs –generally (Project Performance Evaluation Report 2001).

Lack of political Support and Recognition

Common is African young democracies is the problem of dictatorships. Emergence of NGOs that condemn the bad governance practices has very often led to tensions between them and government. As a result their operations are time and again foiled and make organizations goals unreachable. In some of such countries like Somalia and Sudan, NGOs have ceased to exist. In Uganda annual re-registration of all NGOs is a criteria meant to ‘humble’ them. Despite being Noble in their roles, affected NGOs get rejected by government (who are key stakeholders in their success) (Jagawat, H. 2002).

Over-dependence of Donor Funds and Limited Capacity

Over-dependence rather than interdependence mentality disable the creative minds of organizations. When projects are either phased out or not of interest for funders, they easily close –a situation that affects beneficiaries –fatally. Donor dependency has been cited as a chronic problem that constantly compromises CSOs and makes them vulnerable (NGO Resource Centre and Tanzania Association of NGOs 2008).

NGO formation is first characterized by strong personalities behind them more than anything else. Once operational stage episodes, they miserably fail to meet organizations needs details. Such organizations based on personalities suffer collapse even when that personality-figure dies. Sustainability of their programs is often questioned and a big question from donors. NGOs (or CBOs) at both the national and local levels face serious shortages of professional staff and problems of staff retention. Very few of them have an adequate policy analysis capability to engage with the Government (NGO Resource Centre and Tanzania Association of NGOs 2008). 

Conclusion

NGOs at whatever level and discipline do impact lives of communities positively. Non-Governmental organizations by the virtue of being small-scale, flexible, innovative and participatory are more successful in reaching the poor and in poverty alleviating. Their work, like social mobilization is a continuous process aimed at changing minds, attitudes and behaviors of the people to involve in any development process (Villi, C. no date). That, though, has been undermined by some selfish-driven ones. It is, therefore, important that they are evaluated as much as they do against government or whatever community ills.

References
BROSDI (2011) About Us @ http://www.brosdi.or.ug/about_us.html Accessed on 10th November 2011

Convention of Biodiversity (no date) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) @ http://www.cbd.int/ngo/ Accessed on 11th November 2011

Department for International Development (2008) Climate change in Uganda: Understanding the implications and appraising the response Executive Summary Relief Web (Uganda) @ http://reliefweb.int/node/299809 Accessed on 10th November 2011

Deepening Democracy Programme in Uganda (2005) Encouraging more active and participatory civic engagement @ http://ddp.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71&Itemid=96 Accessed on 10th November 2011


Global Education (2001) Non-government organisations (NGOs) @ http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/1808 Accessed on 11th November 2011

FIDA (2009) Who we are? @ http://www.fidafederation.org/who-we-are/ Accessed on 10th November 2011

Institute of Security Studies –Africa (no date) @ http://www.issafrica.org/AF/profiles/Uganda/Economy.html#top Accessed on 10th November 2011

Jagawat, H. (2002) Need to Provide Greater Scope to NGOs in National Development NMSWDF 20.04.2002 @ http://www.nmsadguru.org/Article_NeedToProvideGreaterScope.html Accessed on 11th November 2011

NARO (2011) NARO @ http://www.naro.go.ug/ Accessed on 10th November 2011

NGO Resource Centre and Tanzania Association of NGOs (2008) Fighting Poverty Together Case Studies of Collaboration between Civil Society Organisations and the Government in Tanzania NGO Resource Centre (TZ) p.10