The golden age of non-government organisations is over

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where Andrew Hewett is speaking on "Is the golden age of non-government organisations over?". Mr. Hewett explained he was talking about international, non-profit organisations working on helping developing nations. He described the traditional NGO as ganger aid donations from rich nations to help poor nations. He argues that the role of aid to help developing nations had been over emphasised. There had been reductions in poverty in many countries, but income had become less equitably distributed. 

Mr. Hewett also expressed concern about the number of NGOs and the questionable motives of some of them, such as those connected with some on fringe religions.He also asked about the NGO's response to climate change.

Mr. Hewett  described new "disintermediated" aid models, where money goes more directly, such as "GiveDirectly". 

To me it seemed that Mr. Hewett's definition of an NGO is far too limited. There are many non-government, not-for profit organisations which aim to help all of the world's population and by doing so still make a significant contribution to developing nations. Also the assumption that developed nations really do make net donations to poor nations needs to be questioned: an analysis of where the aid money goes and what other transfers and hidden costs there are may well show a net flow of money from poor to rich nations.

Mr. Hewett pointed out that the aid agency in Australia had been subsumed into the foreign affairs department, and this was a worldwide trend. To me this seemed to be just a recondition of the reality that the nations provide aid primarily to further their own interests, not that of the nation donated to. It would seem preferable for a nation to provide aid in further their national interests than use military force.

Mr. Hewett  suggested eliminating the patronising language used by NGOs. He suggested tacking gender inequality. Also he proposed NGOs ceased the delivery of services role in middle income countries.

As an example Mr. Hewett highlighted Oxfam's partner "JOSH" in Delhi, which improved access to education for girls, without providing the basic services. Instead the organisation mobilises the community for their human rights, including education. However, I ask if countries would see this as an aid activity, rather than interference in the local political process.

Mr. Hewett suggested investing building practical empathy, such as by linking students in the developed world with those in the developing world on-line.

Mr. Hewett  suggested Australian NGOs need to enter the debate on appropriate carbon emission reductions as this directly effects the developing world.

In my own work I help with NGOs which help with IT and so is applicable to the developed and developing world. An example of this is the "Sahana Foundation" which provides free disaster relief software.

Role of Community Groups in Disaster Management

The Australian Council of Social Service has released the report "Adapting the Community Sector for Climate Extremes " by Karl Mallon, Emily Hamilton, Manu Black, Betsi Beem and Julius Abs of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF):

Given its size, scope and the critical role the Australian community sector plays in building client and community resilience and in assisting communities to respond to and recover from the devastating impacts of extreme weather events and natural disasters, the research identifies serious gaps in both the policy frameworks and the research base required to ensure the sector’s resilience and adaptive capacity – gaps which appear to have already had serious consequences. To address these gaps, a series of recommendations has been prepared to enable the development and implementation of a comprehensive, sector-specific adaptation and preparedness program, which includes mechanisms to institutionalise knowledge and skills, streamlined tools appropriate to the needs and capacity of a diverse range of organisations and a benchmarking system to allow progress towards resilience and preparedness to be monitored. Future research priorities for adaptation in this sector have also been identified.

Education Effectiveness and Collaboration Forum

Peter Baxter, Director General of AusAID, will speak on "Australian aid and education: challenges and opportunities to 2015" at the Education Effectiveness and Collaboration Forum to be held at the Australian National University, in Canberra on 13 March 2012.

Education Effectiveness and Collaboration Forum

The Education Effectiveness and Collaboration Forum is a one day event co-hosted by Save the Children and the Development Policy Centre, ANU. The forum will promote dialogue between the different actors involved in development assistance to the education sector - NGOs, donors, education providers, researchers and the private sector - on how more effective partnership can advance quality education for children in the Asia Pacific region.

Education is considered the ‘flagship’ of the Australian aid program. With a commitment increasing to $5 billion between now and 2015, Australia will become one of the top five bilateral donors for education.

The forum will consider the implications of recent research on aid effectiveness in relation to improving the quality of education learning and how partnerships can be developed to support this. The forum will identify specific areas for immediate implementation and further investigation.

ICT and the Environment in Indonesia

Dr Idris Sulaiman, will speak on "ICT-enablement in Environmental Social Movements in Indonesia" at the Australian National University, in Canberra, 3 June 2011.

COMPUTER SCIENCE SEMINAR

Research School of Computer Science

ICT-enablement in Environmental Social Movements in Indonesia. What are the challenges of aligning ICT and organizational strategies in a 'near-networked' nation?

Dr Idris Sulaiman (Research School of Computer Science, ANU)

DATE: 2011-06-03
TIME: 11:00:00 - 12:30:00
LOCATION: CSIT Building, CSIT Seminar Room, N101

ABSTRACT:
The Internet and social media can be used strategically to make social change. The paper examines leading environmental social movement organizations in Indonesia by assessing their ICT landscape and by examining the process of ICT-enablement based on a framework which has been specifically develop to suit the current conditions in Indonesia. Is Indonesia approaching a 'near-networked' nation? What does this imply for the social movement organizations (SMOs or NGOs) that are trying to organize both 'online' and 'off-line'? Will they have to master the move from information-layer to knowledge management? What will be the role of new media such as smartphones, social networks and a variety of open source software?
BIO:
Dr. Idris Sulaiman is a Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Computer Science, the Australian National University (ANU). His research interests include a number of applied areas of Information Communications Technology (ICT) including ICT energy efficiency (EE) and sustainability, development of EE standards and regulation as well as ICT for development particularly the implementation of e-government, e-Advocacy and ICT diffusion programs both in emerging and developed economies. He also works as an adviser for a number of sustainability and ICT related organisations including Connection Research and Foundation for IT Sustainability.