Forum calls for greater collaboration
NGOs want better relationships with government, civic groups
The Sunshine NGO Forum is mobilising its campaign to improve collaboration among various development groups serving Ndlambe region to “create opportunities for communities so they are not held back by poverty and socioeconomic problems”.
Forum co-ordinator Hyman van Zyl told a gathering of NGOs, NPOs and development groups at their second annual conference at Royal St Andrews Hotel at the weekend, that if they could better align activities with local government and donors, the more beneficial it would be to the people they are trying to help.
One example of the improved collaboration is the Sunshine Life Centre being run under the Shine NGO in Port Alfred. The holistic and integrated development programme that opened in July with its walk in helpdesk, offers communities in Ndlambe access to relevant development opportunities.
“NGOs are dependent on the people who support us financially and the stronger the trust between the public and the organisations that have to implement development, the easier it is for that assistance to be forthcoming. If they don’t feel they can trust the people they are giving resources to, they won’ t do it, ” Van Zyl said.
“It is extremely important for NGOs to be transparent, visible and 100% accountable in everything they do. We have to process more information than many other organisations because of that responsibility.”
Van Zyl said the role of NGOs and development groups in aligning themselves with government could be improved at many levels.
“We can try to join existing government structures that are already in place like ward committees. Then there are the ratepayers associations … we should work with them because they are already working with government structures.
“We should build on these relationships with people in the right departments. It is a long process, but it is something we need to give more thought to.”
Van Zyl said the heavy workload of information gathering meant that NGOs were finding it difficult to address all the socioeconomic problems that needed attention.
“We have to do the accounting, the evaluation and monitoring, development
programmes, do fund-raising and still focus on building relationships but we do our best.”
Van Zyl said despite problems around resources and logistics, the collaborative forum was having some kind of impact in its second year of existence.
“We have in this year defined development areas with groups that are actively doing that and development programmes are starting to be implemented.
“We have started the Sunshine Life Centre which has an open door policy in terms of assisting people with any development challenge. So we are making progress but there’s
still a long way to go.”
Van Zyl said the socioeconomic problems that needed addressing in Ndlambe were too many to mention but general hopelessness and despair among impoverished communities were highlighted as needing the most attention.
“One of the biggest issues we have to deal with [in Ndlambe] is people who are feeling hopeless because they did not grow up in a safe, caring environment to start off with.
“They don’t get access to opportunities. They don’t know how to participate in society which means they feel hopeless and have weak self-esteem. It’s why we have to focus on holistic development programmes.
“One can’t just say, ‘here is a development enterprise programme, come start your business ’— you have to look at the psychosocial side of it too and give people the confidence and belief that they can improve their situation.”
Emeritus professor Monty Roodt of Rhodes University’s sociology department in his address to members said the relationship between civil society and the state “is one of the biggest problems that we have”.
“NGOs and section 21 companies are doing the government’s work for them, but it should be a collaborative enterprise.”
There had to be a distinction made between governance and government governance meant there had to be a collaborative contract in place between civil society and local government.
“With the emergence of transitional local councils [in the 1990s] many people who served in successful civic organisations joined the race to become councillors,” Roodt said.
“The moment they became councillors, the [grassroots] development forums and street committees fell away and the bottom-up approach to governance disappeared.
“We still have civic organisations today but unfortunately many are a shadow of their former selves.
“I can remember these civic organisations when they seemed to be a powerful alternative to political parties,” Roodt said.
Roodt said the hallmark of liberal democracies was the watchdog role civil society was supposed to have over the state “and to ensure government does what it is supposed to do”.
He said instead of engaging in a relationship of an adversarial nature with local government it was better if development groups focused on fostering good rapport with civil service.
“You have to get to know who is responsible for what in the municipality. You have to establish relationships with your local government. People who are now well retired have huge and important skillsets that NGOs can use to their advantage. If you can involve those people in a mentorship collaborative programme you can experience major improvement in many areas.
“You really need to find ways of acting as a watchdog — you need to know the legislation that governs how local government works, the different by-laws, so that you can engage with local government in a way that is productive, informed and positive as opposed to being constantly negative.”
He said it was his view that NGOs would have to work with ratepayers’ associations, civic organisations and ward committees, if any ground could be made in establishing relationships with government.
“Issues around the youth and drugs, unemployment as examples will benefit hugely from a more positive structural relationship as supposed to an ad hoc approach to local government,” he added.