Time for international NGOS to treat local ones as partners, not vendors: Experts
Local civil Societies Urged Government and Aid agencies to ensure a Common and Equitable Partnership
International organisations, including the United Nations and other non-government organisations, should partner with local bodies to implement projects and initiatives.
The call was made at a virtual conference on Monday organised by Bangladesh NGO-CSO Coordination Process (BDCSO).
The BDCSO Process is a forum comprising 700 grassroot CSO/NGOs and their two-day conference has been titled "Partnership selection with a policy and through a transparent process for an effective civil society sector".
Shireen Huq, Naripokkha, said, "Nepal was never been colonised by a foreign power; it is the basic reason they have formulated rules which means any international organisation, whether it is the UN or INGOs, cannot take up projects without partnering with local government or local NGOs.
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"Bangladeshi local NGOs are now mature enough so that all parties, including the government, should sit down and draft a partnership policy for humanitarian and development assistance based on foreign aid."
Smruti Patel, of GMI & A4EP Geneva, said that international actors should have a partnership with local and national organisations, which should be based on sharing risks. After decades of capacity building efforts, the international actors should not raise the issue of the capacity deficit, she said.
Jashim Uddin, ADAB, explained the experience with two international actors who had officially treated them as sub-contractors or vendors.
"Our government should have a political commitment in this regard as the approach should be for the best use of foreign aid, they must intervene in this regard," he said.
The conference was chaired by Shireen Huq and moderated by Md Mujibul Haque Munir and Ferdous Ara Rumee of the BDCSO Process secretariat hosted by COAST Foundation.
