More NGO involvement needed

NGOs should be encouraged, provided with all necessary support to work in flood affected areas, said NDMA.

ISLAMABAD: With the early recovery and reconstruction phase ongoing in provinces, Sindh with its stagnant water remains in the emergency phase and more NGOs are required to deal with the situation.

During military operations in the north last year and the 2005 earthquake, many NGOS were working on the ground, particularly in the north. But the devastation caused by the floods has revealed areas which would not have received agencies’ attention otherwise. “Every day there are new challenges coming forward and we are discovering new areas to work on,” said Jackie Dent, press officer at the World Food Programme.

Agencies believe that though the emergency might be over in many parts of the country, greater and more difficult challenges are emerging as the water recedes. “The scale of disaster is so vast that we have to provide not only immediate relief, but also work on longer term programmes of reconstruction as well as rebuilding communities,” said the United Nations Development Programme country director Toshihiro Tanaka.

According to the National Disaster Management Authourity (NDMA), a total of 397 projects worth $1.93 billion have been approved and are being carried out by different NGOs. Therefore, NDMA believes that NGOs should be encouraged and provided with all the necessary support to work in flood affected areas.

Sindh, being the most affected province, naturally attracts more non-governmental engagements via the local or international organisations. A UN official said that there is an ongoing consultation within NDMA as regards getting more NGOs to work on the ground, particularly in Sindh. “So far, there are some NGOs that are doing a lot of work where others are not,” said the official.

There is no policy that states that NGOs should be discouraged to operate in challenging places, however, the number of NGOs projects are likely to increase in days to come, said an NDMA official.

Another UN official said that there is a need for bigger organisations to overlook the smaller ones that are very new in the business. “It is time to give an opportunity to private and public local authourities to work together,” he said. Not just individuals but the communities themselves need a lot of support, he added.

“More than competition, there should be coordination between the old and new organisations. With planned capacity assessment a great difference can be made,” he said. The larger and older NGOs should approach the new ones and help them build capacity under their umbrellas, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2010.