The Effectiveness of NGOs

When states experience natural disasters or human rights abuses, an NGO will step in to aid the people of the region. This non-governmental organization gets involved in a situation if the local government does not or cannot remedy the situation. While NGOs set out with good intentions, if the organization fails to achieve its goals in a particular region, the group’s effectiveness is question deeming the group unaccountable. In Haiti, the Red Cross has failed to achieve many of its goals, the group’s lack of coordination with local groups as well as the failure in properly spending the donations that they received leaving millions of people still in need of help to this day.

NGOs or non-governmental organizations are groups that are separate from a state’s political body. NGOs differ from IGOs which are groups set up by states such as the US and the UK and include organizations such as the UN and the IMF. Separating NGOs from politics seemingly allows the group to focus all of their efforts on helping people and keeps them issue-oriented. Some of the issues that NGOs focus on are the environment, poverty, and human rights. One of the reasons an NGO will become involved is if the government of the state that the issue is effecting neglects to react or chooses not to. Another reason for NGOs to get involved is if the citizens of the state are being oppressed in response to the issue. Two ways in which NGOs exert influence is through framing and accountability politics. Framing occurs when an NGO obscures the information surrounding the issue to make the audience more sympathetic toward the issue; this includes the use of provocative images and phrases in their advertisements. Accountability politics is when an NGO employs its resources to highlight how the government or the corporations involved have failed in their efforts to remedy the crisis. An NGO will cite examples where the government has failed to live up to their word thereby forcing the government to rethink its stance on the issue and to take a positive step toward remedying the issue.

While NGOs are independent organizations and are meant to aid people in impoverished situations, many critiques are surrounding them. One such critique is that unlike government leaders, the leaders of NGOs are unelected. Government leaders have a mandate from their people to uphold the promises that they previously made, yet NGOs have no such force to make them accountable. As a result, the NGO may state a goal that they hope to achieve, but the public has no way to ensure that the organization will carry out the goal.  Another criticism of NGOs is that the interests of the group may not represent the issues of the people directly affected by the issue. Many of the NGOs originated in Western states and then go into impoverished nations with Western ideals that are very different than those of the citizens of the states. These issues cause many to question the effectiveness of NGOs and to consider reforming the aide giving system, especially after studying cases in states such as Haiti where NGOs have failed the people there.

NGOs went into Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010 and recently after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Much of the goals that NGOs such as the Red Cross stated when entering both conflicts have not been fulfilled at the expense of Haiti’s citizens. Many NGOs first failure was when they separated themselves from the people affected by the crisis. Rather than coordinating with local groups, the NGOs remained independent entities. This failure to include the local people in their efforts minimized the relief efforts while at the same leading many groups to divert their resources into similar relief efforts. While the Red Cross was able to raise $486 million for the earthquake relief efforts, much of this money has gone to waste through the lack of coordination with the locals. Rather than assessing the situation from a citizen’s perspective, the Red Cross did what it saw best, thereby running into many issues. One failure resulting from the Red Cross’ lack of coordination was the way in which the organization spent money to build shelters. The organization told its donors that it was going to use the funds to rebuild Haiti and therefore would be able to save Haitian citizens. The money that was intended to save lives through the construction of homes instead went to the purchasing of tarps that were distributed to the people. Seven years later and millions of people in Haiti still need aid because of the Red Cross’ failure to assess the situation accurately. The organization attempted to provide a quick fix to a situation with many issues, many of which could not be fixed within a few months.

NGOs are aid organizations that are not associated with a state’s government. These organizations go into the states that are in dire situations, and while the NGO may have the best intentions, the goals it sets for its time in the state are not always met.  In Haiti, the failure of the Red Cross to coordinate with the people to figure out how to appropriately allocate its donations led the organizations to fail to achieve many of the goals it set for the region, such as building permanent homes for the people. The failure of such an important organization like the Red Cross has led many to question the effectiveness of NGOs and how to improve the aide system.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-some-foreign-ngos-failed-haiti/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/young-professionals-in-foreign-policy/haitis-multi-billion-doll_b_8207494.html