Since the triumphant march of liberalism, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have flourished worldwide. Bangladesh is no exception. Currently, approximately 26000 international, national, and local NGOs are registered in Bangladesh. These NGOs are playing a pivotal role in poverty alleviation, mobilizing foreign aid, good governance, community development, and functioning democracy. While many international NGOs have come to Bangladesh and contributed to Bangladesh’s overall development, the country is also contributing to the world by developing the world’s largest NGO, BRAC. But as the time passed with enriching experiences, it seems the sector has also been gradually poisoned by a lack of accountability, transparency, and corruption in the governance. The issues about NGO governance are familiar to ordinary people and raise a storm in a teacup quite often, but the literature is still very limited. So, what are the issues of NGO governance in Bangladesh?
One common issue with NGOs is the biasness related to their funding. It has also emerged as a common ground for the government to criticize and outright reject any critical report published by NGOs. Often, foreign funding comes with certain principles and norms attached that the receiving NGOs have to follow officially or unofficially. Sometimes, these norms and principles contradict existing societal and state values. Again, many NGOs tend to keep the problem ‘alive’ so that the funding continues to flow and operation remains active. For instance, when Bangladesh took the Bhasanchar relocation project for the Rohingya, many NGOs opposed it directly or indirectly as it would scale down their activities in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazaar.
However, strong criticism against NGO’s financial structure is that it mostly overspends its fund on organizational matters. As a result, luxury hotels and cafés in Cox’s bazaar are crowded with NGO workers appointed in the Rohingya camp. While NGO officials are sipping their coffee at Gloria Jeans’ Teknaf branch, their clients are waiting in the line for rations at the camp!
Another issue related to the sector is that NGOs are run on the basis of cronies. Many national and local NGOs are run like a family business with ‘bosses’ at the top who takes decisions arbitrarily. Sometimes, the executive committee acts as a single entity to make decisions. The lack of regulatory supervision enables them to run the organizations of their free will. Transparency International Bangladesh’s (TIB) report shows that in 85% of cases, governing bodies are relatives, and in 95% of cases, they don’t follow routine procedures. The Decision-making process also shows the same picture as in 85% of cases, and executives make decisions unilaterally. As the ‘hegemony’ of the executive is evident, general staff are also deprived of their opinion in 75% of cases.
NGOs also lack financial transparency. Even though most NGOs run audits annually and provide updates to their respective donors, the audits are not independent. As audit farms do not want to lose their ‘NGO’ clients, they are often engaged in malpractices. There is also evidence of usurping by showing the same staff tasked with several projects to claim funds even though they are not working on those projects. TIB report suggests that accountants are not independent, and exaggerated financial reports are produced in 85% of cases. Another aspect of financial corruption and transparency question is the micro-finance sector. They are quite often overlooked. Their loan-return method is highly criticized at the societal level for repressive and extra-regulations methods.
And last but not least, exaggeration and secrecy are also affecting the whole sector. Quite often, NGOs provide exaggerated reports to both media and the regulatory authorities. According to the TIB report, exaggerated reports are produced in 80% of cases, while secrecy leading to lack of information is 85%. These harmful practices also create sensitive security risks apart from financial corruption.
For instance, the NGO Bureau of Bangladesh rejected Odhikar’s renewal application recently. Odhikar is currently gaining sympathy at home and abroad as the claim is that Odhikar is facing ‘revenge’ from the current government. But one cannot shy away from the NGO Bureau’s objections against it. Odhikar has failed to update necessary information with the bureau for seven consecutive years. It has also failed to explain objections to its audit report of 8 projects. Odhikar has breached article 8 of NGO regulation which requires NGOs to coordinate with local governments in executing projects. Furthermore, the bureau also raised objections about its tax evasion, and financial transparency as the officials used personal accounts to transfer fund. The same organization is facing a lawsuit for its misinformed and ‘anti-state’ report on Hefajat’s crackdown back in 2013. The bureau reviewed all these controversies of last 10 years according to NGO regulation-2016’s Article 9(1) and decided accordingly. Hence, The Odhikar renewal controversy reveals that Odhikar- a human rights group is also not free from the existing governance irregularities.
Other concerns about the sector includes bribing government officials, increasing job precarity for lower officials, nepotism in recruitment and promotions, procurement-related anomaly, and tax evasion by higher officials.
Post-Colonial Scholar Mahmud Mamdani once critically remarked, “NGOs are killing the civil society”. Neera Chandoke also criticized NGOs for shifting the focus of their intervention and transparency issues. The debate about NGOs and their role is quite common, and Post-Colonial critical scholars view NGOs from a pessimistic perspective. Considering NGOs’ pivotal role and impact on Bangladesh’s rural and community development, we can put such critical views aside. But there is no shying away that NGOs in Bangladesh are passing a critical time. The sector has already garnered many ‘bad names’ which could eclipse its achievements. The last three decades have, flourished NGOs in Bangladesh but failed to flourish ideal governance and regulations to govern smoothly. As a ‘civil society’, NGOs also have a strong responsibility to ensure ideal self-governance. NGOs must overcome these internal irregularities, fight corruption, and ensure transparency. Otherwise, it will be the demise of NGOs not just in Bangladesh but also in the world.
