Fixing INGOs regulations

The Ministry of Interior’s recent letter to some 23 international NGOs (INGOs) to shut down their operations in humanitarian and developmental assistance is a gift from the American people. Had some smart aleck in the CIA not taken ‘everything is fair in love and war’ too literally, and used humanitarian activity as a cover for its intelligence operation, things probably wouldn’t have blown-up so bad. But from what it seems, the Pakistani government isn’t making matters any better.

Any government has the right to maintain and update records of, and approve foreign businesses and foreign developmental agencies, with or without the CIA-context behind it. But for a government that cannot even properly collect its revenues, or have enough funds and capacity to even hold consultative dialogues to revise something as simple as trade policy let alone raise finance for a major natural disaster, the way the INGOs registration and approval process has been managed is rather poor. Perhaps they should have engaged a consultant who would have spent donor funding on finding out a smooth way to screen INGOs! [Sarcasm intended].

Consider this, about 23 INGOs have been asked to shut down operations in just 60 days without specifically giving them the reasons behind the decision.

They have been given a right to appeal within 90 days, but it is not clear how this process will be managed. Recall that as per INGO policy the scrutiny of applications was to be done by the INGO Committee within a period of 60 days - a deadline the government clearly missed by fat margins for most applications. Given the ministry’s performance so far, therefore, these INGOs might have to cease their operations for some time before the committee makes any decision against the appeal.

The documentary requirements for these INGOs, many of who already work closely with line ministries and departments at federal and provincial level, are huge. The Ministry of Interior wants a plethora of details like, annual budgets, tax returns, source of funding, employee status, suppliers, vendors, international board members, names and details of partner organisations including board member of partners’ organisations and what not. Yet many of the implementing NGOs at local level are not formal, which is understandable considering Pakistan’s informal nature of economy. This adds to the hassle of documentary requirements for the INGOs.

It is therefore, possible that some of the 23 organisations may have been asked to leave due to lack of any documentation – a matter which perhaps can be resolved relatively easily, unless of course all the 23 INGOs in question are a ‘threat to national security’. But when the letter doesn’t even specify the reasons behind the decision, nor does any backdoor communication informs that, then the INGOs can do precious little in any appeal.

Lack of clarification, or poorly managed screening process, however, is just one end of the problem. The other end is: who is going to fill the vacuum. Granted that the gap left by government spending on public goods cannot be filled by the development community. Granted also, following Nadeem Ul-Haque’s argument, that the donor community has hijacked local thought.

But it is not as if that sufficient domestic funding and intellectual capacity is available overnight to fill the vacuum that may be left by many of the INGOs in question. Some of those INGOs are in fact implementing partners of the bilateral and multilaterals who in turn have longer term formal engagement with the federal and provincial governments.

This column is not asking the government to give clearance to any particular INGO; that’s clearly the state’s prerogative. But that the process should be streamlined, and made transparent, with implications well thought of, considering that many local think tanks as well as business chambers rollout their development related research and operations on the back of funding from INGOs.

One final item: it is unfortunate that Pakistani business and civil society space does not fund think tanks, and NGOs that work at the space of rights, and other institutional affairs. Pakistanis are only content with giving charity to service delivery organisations but not to those who work within the space of research and advocacy for various rights. Perhaps the next All Pakistan Chambers’ Presidents Conference, which by the way was kick started and seed-funded by an INGO, will take the issue of funding think tanks as an agenda item when it meets next.