Just published a book that will surely be a turning point for NGOs at an international level. It is also written by an authoritative voice called to do so, Deborah Doane, who, together with her colleagues from RINGO – Collab and West Africa Civil Society Institutehas led for several years the most influential process globally to demonstrate that INGOs (International Non-Governmental Organizations) can change their practicescurrently outdated and inefficient. They have done so together with hundreds of social organisations and NGOs, so there is no shortage of evidence.
In fact, the messages of the book, titled The INGO Problem: Power, privilege, and renewal (“The INGO Problem: Power, Privilege and Renewal”) should not surprise anyone, except those who have tried to hide the truth in recent years. It is a known fact in the sector, and the Venezuelan organizations either Ukrainianswith the pain that this entails, since it means that the INGOs are not doing things well where most is expected of them. A global movement has even been created called #ShiftThePower [cambia el poder, en inglés] to address this same issue, and the influential social movements of Latin America have also joined to the call for the decolonization of INGOs. The message is clear: they are tired of their practices, the excessive power of INGOs and their privileges, as the book is titled.
Indigenous, peasant, women’s and youth organizations from around the world do not accept that INGOs try to define their priorities, their indicators, that they ask them for a thousand reports when they are not accountable, that they take all the credit and a disproportionate share of the resources.
How did we get here? Deborah Doane tells the story in first person: it has been standard industry practice for more than two decades. Young Westerners, after completing a one-year master’s degree in development, were led to believe that they already knew how to solve complex problems in countries they didn’t know. That has been the breeding ground for cooperation for too long, and it needs to change now.
Young Westerners were led to believe after completing a one-year master’s degree in development that they already knew how to solve complex problems in countries they didn’t know.
Interviews dozens of donors, INGO CEOs and experts. All of them are in the process of searching for solutions, which do include reducing INGOs’ resources, which in the future will be smaller and less powerful. The book focuses on governing bodies, the unfair management of risks assumed especially by national organizations, fundraising strategies, language and organizational culture.
The INGOs are driven by colonial practices, he points out, and they start from a structural racism which has spanned its entire history up to the present day. She is not alone in this assertion; also the influential coordinator of NGOs in the United Kingdom supports itand it is a growing consensus that must be digested in order to move forward.
The book reveals truths like temples: the INGOs lie when they say they will end poverty or that they are essential to solve X or Y problem. Their contribution is usually, in most cases, limited and with secondary roles. It is the national organizations that do 80% of the work and receive 20% of the resources, he tells us.
You have to move from the gaze of the savior (white) to that of companion. INGOs are not and should not try to be the protagonists in the processes of change outside their countries; their role is to be facilitators, connectors or co-creators, changing their functions and structures.
We must move from the gaze of the (white) savior to that of the companion.
This is a systemic change, which requires reflection that is already taking place with donors, with social organizations, among INGOs and with experts. It is already unstoppable and each of the parties has a responsibility. Some countries such as Belgium, the United Kingdom or the United States have already been on this path for several years, with some good experiences such as those of 11.11.11 either Peace Directwhich show us the direction. Care and Oxfam They are the most committed at an international level, all with contradictions, but demonstrating that with will it is possible.
I missed more references to medium-sized INGOs in the book, not just the big Anglo-Saxon ones. This is understandable given the author’s background, and I am sure that it will improve in the Spanish edition, which I hope will be on sale soon. In any case, it is a book that does not tell us the future, but rather describes a present that is already happening. As Barney Tallack points out in the book [trabajador en ONG británicas e internacionales durante 30 años, y ahora consultor para el sector]: “ONGIs will have to transform themselves, die well or die badly”“It’s hard, but it is like that.
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