NGOs urged to desist from imposing projects on communities

NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisations have been urged to desist from imposing projects on communities in order to make sure their activities bring significant development in their areas of intervention.

Speaking during a meeting with nongovernmental organisations operating in his district, Bulilima Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr John Brown Ncube said NGOs had to engage community leaders on the projects they needed in their areas before implementation. He said there was a need for long term projects as most organisations focused on distributing food handouts.

“The challenge we have is that most NGOs are duplicating projects and most of them are food related. Villagers shouldn’t be given food only but they need to be equipped on how to get the food themselves. It is also important that you don’t impose projects but consult communities first as some imposed projects turn out to be irrelevant. Community leaders and traditional leaders have projects that they prioritise, therefore engage them and find out the needs of the villagers so that you can address them,” he said.

Mr Ncube also urged NGOs to fund incomplete projects within communities such as outstanding schools and clinics. He said the organisations had to incorporate their programmes into those of communities and ensure that they were community oriented.

Mr Ncube also appealed to NGOs to report their activities to the local authority and to ensure their operations complemented Government projects.

“Over the past years we have been calling NGOs to planning meetings and some haven’t been attending. We expect NGOs to feed into council business and to report to their respective sub-committees within the Rural District Development Committee and to liaise with their respective ministries. We also expect operations by NGOs to be transparent. You have to furnish us with reports throughout the year and your budgets. This will help in bringing development to the district,” he said.

Also speaking during the same meeting, Bambadzi Ward councillor Zoolakes Nyathi said members of the business community in villages where NGOs were distributing food were now complaining that they were losing business as people now relied on the food handouts.

He said there was a need for NGOs to consult all stakeholders within their targeted wards before implementing projects.

Clr Nyathi also said councillors had resolved that there was a need for a mapping exercise that could govern activities of the organisations.

“As councillors we have realised that there is a need for a mapping exercise that will guide operations of NGOs. Some organisations concentrate on the same wards at the same time leaving out others. In most cases wards closest to the CBD are being prioritised at the expense of remote wards yet those are the areas that are in desperate need of intervention,” he said.

NGOs that attended the meeting comprised Restless Development, Kincard International College of Sports, Sciences and Research Technology, Caritas Archdiocese of Bulawayo, Rural Women and Children Legal Resources Trust, Population Service International (PSI) Zimbabwe, Hand in Hand Zimbabwe, Amalima, Hope For a Child in Christ (Hocic), Esandleni Sothando, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) and Practical Action.