Co-operating with NPOs the key to reaching communities in need

NON-profit organisations working at grass roots have a vital bridging role to play between those who are delivering much-needed goods or services and the under-resourced communities they wish to assist.

Ensuring donors can reach those in need is fundamental. Despite the best of intentions, such compacts can end up with unintended consequences or become mired in controversy.

The chances of a negative outcome can be lessened through developing working relationships with grass roots NPOs. Preventing delays and dead ends is pertinent in an emergency such as the pandemic where people go hungry or do not receive health services.

The government has announced safety nets, but many people are slipping through them. Greater acknowledgement, understanding of and collaboration with community NPOs is imperative if more goods and services are to reach their intended beneficiaries.

Many government- and business-led programmes tend to be focused on collection, transport and distribution. However, good relationships with communities are often not factored in, and this is where projects can run aground. Leaders of grass roots non-profits generally have hard-won credibility in their communities. They understand where the greatest needs are and where setbacks and blockages could arise.

A recent article in The Lancet, “Community participation is crucial in a pandemic” recommends steps government bodies and other players should take in their emergency responses: investing in co-production; working with community groups, committing to diversity and being responsive and transparent.

It means avoiding a one-size-fitsall approach and rebuilding on the expertise and networks of community groups and using their capacity to mobilise their wider communities.

The Lancet authors advise that the government should fund community engagement task forces to ensure that communities’ voices are incorporated into the response to the pandemic.

Health and social workers should engage with community groups and networks to include their voices in local, regional or national responses. Showing how policy responses and local actions address specific concerns of a community will make people feel that their voices are being heard.

Many NPOs are working 24/7 to meet community needs, while being cash-strapped and under-resourced.

Greater transparency from the government on development sector strategy, and a better understanding by the state of the enhanced role that non-profits can play could enable NPOs to play a more effective role. There has been a threat of NPO legal action against those calling for food distribution to be centralised under the government.

Pre-Covid-19, South Africa faced challenges of homelessness, hunger and related social ills. Covid-19 has exacerbated these, and we need greater understanding of and co-operation with grass roots non-profits if we are to address the pressing needs of the most vulnerable in our society.