Money talks: Tying foreign policy and investment

Civil society organisations express reservation over regulating their foreign funding.

PESHAWAR: Policy, regulation, foreign funding were hot topics discussed at a session on the proposed Regulation of Foreign Contribution Act of 2014.

Civil society organisations expressed reservation over the policy which would regulate how much foreign funding they would receive.

They asked the government that the policy should not be implemented till the civil society could engage and explore the need and possibility of strengthening existing laws with a regulatory and monitoring framework.

“We have expressed concerns over enforcing the policy for regulating the organisations receiving funding and the proposed Regulation of Foreign Contributions Act 2014,” said Qamar Naseem of Blue Veins organisation at the session which was jointly organised by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network and Tribal NGOs Consortium (TNC) in collaboration with Blue Veins at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

Naseem said that the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet met on November 21 last year and approved the policy, adding that they will ensure transparent utilisation of funds and streamline activities of the NGOs. The civil society organisations are required to maintain local accounts for the execution of activities, and for opening and operating foreign currency accounts, they shall seek permission of the State Bank of Pakistan under the policy, he added.

“The government’s move will have a negative toll on the socio-economic activities meant for vulnerable populations in the country and will also significantly shrink space for pro-democratic institutions in Pakistan,” said Arshad Haroon, representing the Sustainable Participatory Organisation.

Haroon said that under the policy, organisations will be allowed to raise funds locally after getting prior approval from the government. NGOs will be required to provide complete information about activities. The organisations will employ foreign nationals on not more than 10% of the total staff positions. The NGOs shall offer accounts for annual audit; they will also provide the government and related organisations a yearly evaluation, he added.

Under the policy, he explained the government would have to cancel registration of an NGO in case its activities were considered detrimental to national interest, sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan or dubious in nature, or in violation of cultural and religious sentiments of people, or for providing false information or no reasonable activity in a year.

The civil society representatives emphasised on the need for a meaningful engagement between relevant government departments and civil society representatives so that both sides could be heard.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2014.