‘Twenty percent always goes into administration fees’, the manager of the small NGO located in the centre of Kathmandu was telling me and my colleagues. ‘When volunteers pay the small prgramme fee for their volunteering placements, we give half of it to the placement site that they are going to volunteer for. The remainder of the money goes into necessities, such as maintaining the cars for taking volunteers to placements and paying our drivers.’
We sat in a small office that was being warmed by the bright sun flooding in. Our mission was to find out what sort of work we could potentially do with this small local NGO. They had education and health awareness projects in different parts of Nepal. They had also started up a couple of orphanages.
Having been to developing countries previously, I was aware of the fact that a number of local NGOs did not use their money wisely and the people at the receiving end did not get nearly as much money as they should have. A lot of money ‘got lost’ in administration and who knows for what. Professionals from developed countries found it hard to understand and to find ways of working with locals that would result in the people at the receiving end to benefit from the NGO’s activities to a greater extent.
At the headquarters of this particular NGO, there were photos on the wall showing volunteers at work at various placement sites. There were photos of smily kids playing with volunteers; volunteer with dirty faces digging the fields; volunteers taking kids on a shopping trip... There was evidence that this NGO was doing some good work for the poor and disadvantaged in Nepal.
All of sudden, the main door of the office was opened. Three girls walked in. ‘Can we speak to the manager, please?’ One of them said in a rather angry and aggressive way.
The manager of the NGO smiled a wide smile and said.’ Yes, of course. please sit down.’
The girls stared to speak, all at ones. ‘ We are disappointed by the way you use the money here at your NGO. We have spent a month at an orphanage in Chitwan and we see no evidence of the money. The children eat rice every day, nothing else. There are no toys, there are no new clothes. Where does the money go?’
The smile on the manager’s face widened. ‘ Oh, but the building itself was built with the money. All the stuff that is there has been bought by us. W give them what we can, but we are also giving money to other placement sites. Look at the photos, you can see there.’
The girls did not look convinced. ‘But we have been there and feel that you could do much more with the money.’ They looked around the office.’ These new people deserve to know what you spend your money on.’
Me and my colleagues started feeling uncomfortable. ‘Perhaps we should go and we can talk with you some other time,’ I said after while. We left quietly.
On the way out, our host member of staff was looking gloomy. ‘They are right. The girls... We could use the money much better here, but the manager and his wife... It’s all about status to them. They don’t mind taking some money for their family. They don’t care if it all does not go to where it should go. They still have their status in the society.’
I exchanged a look with a colleagues. ‘So are you saying that this NGO is corrupted?’
Our host blushed. ‘Well, I wouldn’t say corrupted, but things could certainly be improved.’
So there was evidence for the good work that the NGO was doing and evidence for flaws. I walked along and thought that I would need to find out for myself what the reality was. It was likely to be something in the mid-way. People tend to have strong extreme views and political stands in the developing world.
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Anyone interested in going to volunteer in Nepal should do background checks on the NGOs that they will work for. This will prevent disappointment and bad feelings. Volunteers should also keep in mind cultural differences and remember that things are dealt with differently.
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