| Strengthening
Partnerships Current Constraints
The need for political will and resources. While governments have
increasingly included NGOs in the population programme process, such inclusion has often
been primarily of NGOs as part of the government-directed programme. While the ICPD
mandates working with women’s organizations and other NGOs, some of the relationships
that have been developed are contracts for service by governments to NGOs. These
relationships tend to favour NGOs specialized in family planning and in some cases other
reproductive health services. In many countries there has been a relative lack of
commitment and financial resources to support NGOs that work for long-term empowerment,
gender equity and social change through community mobilization, advocacy and political
action across sectors.38
Incomplete partnerships in the programme planning phase. Furthermore,
donor organizations, although they promote participation and partnership, have not been
consistently successful in supporting civil-society organizations and NGOs in the policy
development and programme implementation process. The study of the OECD/DAC’s 10
member organizations found that although all organizations emphasize building
partner-ships and stakeholder consultation and participation, policy dialogues still tend
to be limited primarily to the donors and the counterpart governments. Civil society
groups in general and women’s organizations in particular are often marginalized to
the process of consultation and dialogue.39
Lack of shared understandings of partnership. Many NGOs, therefore,
perceive that their "participation" with governments in the implementation of
the ICPD Programme of Action needs to be better realized. NGOs have often been invited to
participate in ongoing programmes without having the ability to design or reorient the
programmes. Some NGOs feel they are viewed as tools for implementing established
programmes rather than as partners who can play a valuable role through dialogue and
advocacy.40
The need for coordination. Little coordination exists among the
reproductive health programmes directed by governments, NGOs and the private sector; these
programmes operate separately and in parallel.
Other constraints include: a lack of sufficient financial resources, insufficient NGO
and government institutional capacity, human resources and trained staff; insufficient NGO
coordination; an insufficiently trusting government-NGO relationship; a lack of awareness
or understanding of the issues by the civil society; a lack of awareness or understanding
of the importance of partnership; and weak political commitment.
Providing reliable financing
One suggestion that has been repeated in consultations calls on governments to earmark a
core grant to support NGO/civil society involvement, and on international aid agencies to
set aside a percentage of country programme funds for NGO and civil society participation.
In Chad, for example, the Government used World Bank International Development
Assistance to create a special multimillion-dollar fund to assist NGOs working in the
population field. In Gabon, a national network of youth NGOs was established through
assistance from UNFPA. The powerful Catholic Federation of Youth Movements is a member of
this network. In the Gambia, the Government allocated funds and other resources to various
NGOs to implement programmes in advocacy and reproductive health, sexual health and family
planning.
Progress has been limited in improving
NGOs’ financial sustainability, transparency and responsiveness to constituencies.
In a UNFPA-supported project in India, 10 per cent of the project funds will be
programmed through NGOs. In a UNFPA-supported programme in the Philippines, approximately
25 per cent of funds earmarked for reproductive health services were programmed through
NGOs.
Strengthening institutional capacity
In at least 44 countries, NGOs have taken initiatives in strengthening their institutional
sustainability, building coalitions or mobilizing resources. Overall, however, in most
countries, NGOs have achieved only limited progress towards strengthening their
institutional financial sustainability, networking, and improving their transparency,
accountability and responsiveness to constituencies or to mobilizing additional public and
financial support for population activities.
Mechanisms to promote and strengthen the enhanced professionalism of civil society
institutions might include, for example, the establishment of training and research
centres to build the managerial skills and organizational capacities of NGOs; and the
creation of an independent body to accredit NGOs and to set standards for NGO operations.
| MAIN MENU | CONTENTS
| NEXT |
For more information:
United Nations Population Fund
Information and External Relations Division
220 E. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A.
Tel. 212-297-5020; fax: 212-557-6416
E-mail: ryanw@unfpa.org. Web site: www.unfpa.org |
