assessment and monitoring in nepal INGOs: a sample made by SWC

In spite of the political crises, it seems that the SWC – Social Welfare Council (newly reformed) is operating in evaluation and monitoring INGO projects.

We went to the villages of Kavre where the projects of CCS Italia are collapsing and the people received a visit from SWC officers. People explained them that since 2003 they are cooperating with CCS Italy throughput a sponsorship program directed to help children, family and community.

They told them that since two years all has been severely reduced as local operators described in past posts.

They told them that the still give pictures and photos of their children but no more help is given to them.

They told them that an Italian sponsors give to CCS Italy around Rs. 18.000 (yearly) and CCS Italy officers proposed to 42 local SMCs (School Management Committees) agreements which stated only Rs. 4.500 (yearly) for each children.

They told them that the nepali officers of CCS Italy which proposed this shame gain around Rs. 100.000 each month.

So people hope that this words will be written in the reports of SWC, not as last year when the same critics were shelved.

We spoke with people and they decided to stop this kind of robbery. If the CCS officers still use the money of our children to get high salry and benefits they could give to Italian sponsors their picture. We stop to give those of our children, If nothing is going to change in Kathmandu and Italy we organize a julus (people demonstration) to CCS office to ask for changing the thieves. We ask the Italian sponsors to press the CCS Italy HQ in order to utilize the fund they collect for our children as before, it means for the benefits of children, schools and community.

From Thulo Parsel, Mani Lama

Boat (INGO) People

In 2005 some of us started up CCS Italy offices in Cambodia. We signed agreements with MOEF (Ministry of Foreign Affairss) and we began to work in partnership with local organizations based in Kampot and Shianoukville.
The plans were to support primary schools, to create pre-primary and to help an aids-affected village near Kampot. Other ideas were to find out new way to tackle prostitution and trafficking which is a serious problems in the area where they operated and where some local missionaries are already working. We signed agreements with these local partners and we started the projects.
Now some new people should going on on these basis and so we like to receive news from our Cambodian friends still operating with that organization.
But even there something strange happen. First of all they wrote about the high running expenditure which cover more than an half of the budget of CCS Italy in Cambodia (as normally happens  in Nepal), the increase of usefulness formalism and bureaucracy and the low effectiveness of the activities.
In their Budget 2008, it seems that on Euro 215.000 given by italian sponsors for cambodian children around Euro 115.000 has gone for salary staff, expatriates, houses, and so on.
They pointed out, for example, the building of two pre-primary schools in the islands of Koh Thmai e Koh Rong, 40 kilometers far from Shianoukville where to reach takes several hours of shipping (and a lot of diesel) for about 25 children each.
As, the same CCS website describes these islands are very difficult to reach and they had to ship all materials for the buildings. Of course all has been very expensive as expensive is to monitor and to assure sustainability to the schools.
Our Cambodian friends were quite astonished by this decision because a lot of work has to be done in the schools already supported and in the near community where logistic and building costs are less and needs for people and children are higher. Safe-water, health, nutrition and so on.
But a reason, they suggested for this strange and expensive ideas, is that one of the expatriates working with CCS in Cambodia bought a boat and he has to cover the investments. So the social worker (?) boat people.

Dal Nepal: buon anno ai Sostenitori italiani di CCS Italia

Before Chisthmas 2009, CCS Nepal expressed criticism on some methods and practices of the italian INGO which they were collaborating since 2003. New management and people have been appointed both in Nepal and Italy from the middle of 2007 so many activities have been reduced or cutted. We give an abstract of the letter and a table which compare the activities done in 2006 and those in 2008.

Cari Amici
Prima di tutto, ringraziamo I sostenitori italiani che dal 2003 stanno aiutando I nostri bambini e comunità nel Distretto di Kavre, I migliori auguri per le festività di Natale e del nuovo anno.
CCS Nepal, formata da gente di Kavre, iniziò nel 2003 tutte le attività per contribuire a educazione e salute in Nepal, grazie a migliaia di Sostenitori italiani.
Come abbiamo scritto nei posts precedenti stiamo ancora discutendo con I responsabili di CCS Italia INGO il budget per il 2009 e come far proseguire I nostri progetti.
Dal 2007 I fondi sono costantemente diminuiti e così l’aiuto e le opportunità che eravamo in grado di dare ai bambini e alle comunità di Kavre, come si vede dalla tavola che compara le attività nel 2006 e nel 2008.
Come siamo preoccupati per l’elevato aumento delle spese di gestione dell’ufficio di Kathmandu di CCS Italia che è passato da 4 a 22 funzionari per gestire meno attività rispetto al 2006. Ciò significa che le spese di gestione (stipendi, rents, attrezzature, macchine, etc.) sono cresciute da euro 43.000 in 2006 a 153.000 in 2008. Ciò ha gravemente ridotto I fondi per I progetti e I beneficiari.
Vogliamo estendere queste preoccupazioni ai Sostenitori italiani.
Thanks for all
The Staff of CCS Nepal NGO

activitiescompare TABLE ACTIVITIES 2006 COMPARED TO 2008 (tAVOLA DI COMPARAZIONE ATTIVITA’ 2006 e 2008)

Dear Friends
First of all we thank a lot the Italian sponsors which since 2003 are helping our children and community in Kavre District and best wishes for your for Christmas and the End of the year holidays.
CCS Nepal, formed by local people of Kavre, established 5 years ago all activities related to education and health in Nepal thanks to the help of thousand Italian sponsors.
From 2007 our budget and activities were severely reduced as well as the help and opportunities we were able to give to children and community in Kavre as appears in the comparing the activities in the table below which resume the documents already published.
As well as we are worried about the huge increase of running expenditures in CCS Italy office in Kathmandu which passed from 4 people to 22 managing less activities. It means that the running expenditures (salaries, equipments, cars, rents, etc.) raised from Euro 43.000 in 2006 to 153.000 in 2008, this has severely reduced the fund for the projects and beneficiaries.
We extend our concern to Italian sponsors.
CCS Nepal NGO staff

Trainings, reports and workshops development

In a recent article it has been pointed out the paradox of local level governance in Nepal is that much money and effort have been poured into it over the decades but with no visible improvement.
In 1996 UNDP and DANIDA pushed on the government to introduce the Local Self-Governance Act 1999 which failed to include the vital provisions regarding the user groups which showed good performances in managing the forestry community development which has been fully domestically managed by local community.
With no provisions regarding the formation of local groups, the enormous fund to decentralization has been managed by, as the article points, local bodies were invariably composed of the hand-picked favourites of the village elites.
As a result, the billions of rupees that went through the DDCs (District Dev. Office) and VDCs (Village Dev. Office) in various tied and untied grants over the years made little dent on the problems of poverty and deprivation that continue to remain rampant in Nepal’s villages. The same seems happened for other local authorities as DHO (health) and DEO (education).
The misuse of huge funds and the needs of a serious reforms of local body, most of them not working or bad working due to that lack of elected officials and good mnagement should suggest to international donors to go directly to the primary stakeholders: it means community through local user groups (for specific projects), community schools, etc.
This work should be a priority for INGOs and NGOs which must operate gross route level as their guiding principles should require. Unfortunately this is not happening for some of them. It is the case of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO (CCS Italia) which during the last two years left good community tied projects in Kavre moving towards funding the local DEO (district education office) and DHO (district health office). This negative attitude seems directed to void the role and capacity of the local NGO working in Kavre since many years. The reasons could be the strong critics  the local NGO moved regarding the ineffective use of Italian fund and donation made by the officers of the INGO and their incapacity to operate directly with the community. Maybe also their laziness and high salaries.
The same misadventure which is running, in a great scale, DANIDA. They decided to support a 10 million rupies project (19 months) project entitled “Promoting Local Governance for Effective Service Delivery” in six selected districts.
It was said to be “supply-side” governance strengthening initiative and comprised workshops for government officials, local politicians, NGO/CBO officials, and “service receivers”. The project developed training manuals, formed coordination committees and “good governance pressure groups”, and held public hearings with government officials including the CDOs in attendance.
It seems the same trend followed by Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo (CCS Italy) in which instead to work in the community, it is easier to work through local bureaucrats. It is the training and workshop development which is the main activity wide spreading among INGOs and institutional donors.
This kind of “projects” doesn’t need many activities, fieldwork, and accountability of service given.
The single most important contribution that the government and donors could make to promote good governance and development in the villages is to empower the stakeholders and assuring effective service delivery and the only way is to go in the villages working with people. 

Guna Dhakal- Social Worker-Kathmandu

NGO needs credibility and efficiency

Some past posts criticized the work and the role of some INGO operating in Nepal. we receive this article on the matter from Syed Mohammad Ali, Pakistani Researcher

Engaging in a debate about the role of NGOs should not be confined to questioning their credibility, but also their ability to deliver services efficiently and in a sustained manner
A landmark Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness was put forth in 2005 which acknowledged that international development aid needs to respect the priorities of recipient countries and that donor organisations must begin to coordinate their activities with one another. In development terms, this understanding implied the need for donor alignment to improve the harmonisation of aid.
Three years have passed since this declaration was signed, yet the overall ineffectiveness of development assistance continues to evoke much criticism. International non-governmental organisations perhaps remain the harshest critics of aid effectiveness. But what about the effectiveness of these NGOs in utilising aid for development purposes themselves?
After all, international NGOs receive large shares of aid from donors, which adds to the funding generated by them privately and amounts to a significant sum. In some donor countries, the share of NGOs in the expenditure of official development aid is as high as 20 percent. The aid granted by NGOs from OECD nations alone amounted to a total of to almost $15 billion in 2005. A similar amount was given to them in 2006.
Some of the larger NGOs now have budgets bigger than longstanding government donors. The overall budget of ‘World Vision International’, for example, exceeds the aid budget of Italy. The ‘Save the Children Alliance’ spends more money on development than Finland.
Given the enormity of funds involved, a closer look is needed over how NGOs are spending this money meant to assist developing countries. Some recent research in this regard indicates that there is due basis for concern.
Generally, international NGOs are considered to be able to target aid more effectively than state-run development agencies. This confidence is based on the assumption that such entities are more aware of the needs of poor people – since most of them directly cooperate with local level civil society groups, enabling them to circumvent corrupt governments. It is also claimed that international NGOs are less influenced by donor governments’ commercial and political interests, and more responsive to on-ground needs.
However a look at cumulative NGO activities indicates that like official donors, international NGOs are also very subjective in where they chose to spend their money. Ethiopia, for example, has been found to host 5 separate affiliates of World Vision, 7 Oxfam agencies, 6 Care International and 12 Save the Children offices.
Similarly, in other relatively small countries such as Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, more than 40 of the 60 largest NGOs have a presence. This is in stark contrast with other deserving countries like Congo, Yemen and the Central African Republic, where only a handful of these international NGOs operate. Therefore, like official donors, NGOs also ignore the income position of recipient countries and their genuine requirement for aid.
Partially at least, the evident concentration of NGO presence in selected countries is explained by their dependence on government donor priorities, which earmarks official assistance for specific countries. But then if NGOs from donor countries have a tendency to replicate the aid allocation of official donors, surely it must also limit their independence in terms of decision-making.
There are also other indications illustrating that international NGOs lack serious resolve in making their programmes more responsive to needs felt on the ground. For instance, there is little evidence that NGOs are better at respecting the priorities of their local counterparts than of official donors.
In the directorial boards of 55 of the world’s largest development NGOs, only 6 per cent of members have been found to belong to developing countries. This power differential is compounded by the fact that local NGOs themselves lack direct access to international aid, since most official donors restrict their funding for NGOs to organisations based within their own countries, instead of routing this aid directly to NGOs in developing countries.
It is interesting to note that the Global Accountability Report for 2006 found that the World Bank and even the corporate sector have better procedures for managing complaints than international NGOs.
It is about time that international NGOs take a critical look at their own activities instead of using most of their energy to convince donor nations to abide by the principles of aid effectiveness. Engaging in a debate about the role of NGOs should not be confined to questioning their credibility, but also their ability to deliver services efficiently and in a sustained manner.
This ambiguity concerning the effectiveness of NGOs working at the international level has also percolated down to the national level. There is a growing undercurrent of scepticism in the general public about the role of all types of NGOs. In the case of Pakistan for instance, the entire sector is often seen as attempting to propagate and impose the values of a foreign donor agency on an unsuspecting local populace.
While development practitioners must acknowledge that some problems do exist within this sector, and that the efficacy or design of many initiatives can be questioned, the entire sector however cannot be written off as being corrupt, bureaucratic or inefficient.
Moreover, not all local NGOs are recipients of international aid. According to research done by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy some years ago for instance, Pakistanis themselves were found to have given five times more funds to non-profit organisations than what these organisations had received in grants. Nonetheless, the need to bridge the credibility gap concerning internal governance, financial accountability and the participatory approach of NGOs is vital if they want to remain legitimate stakeholders in the process of international development.
A voluntary NGO certification programme has been initiated in several developing countries, including our own, which is a good thing. Scrutiny of international NGOs at a broader level through aid effectiveness forums is also a welcome move.
Ultimately, NGOs must be able to fulfil the needs of the local communities more responsively and expediently than larger international development agencies, or else there is be no real justification for their profusion.

nutrion with DEO Kavre

As in our integrated project on education, from 2005 we provided integration daily meals to around 880 children enrolled in Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs) we created in 5 VDCs in Timal area (Kavre District).

We provided them a daily allowance of Nrs. 2.5 each children managed by the School Management Committees charged of the ECDs. In the past post, it is underligned as daily meals for children helps enrollment and attendance to the ECDs as well it is a support for poor family.

Actually we had the idea to create Ama (mothers) Groups charged to produce and cook pito (high nutrient flour) and to distribute it to the children. Unluckly Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo ONLUS severely reduced the amount stated for this project from Rs. 2.5 each children daily to only Rs. 1. With this amount is very hard to give any good food to the children.

We received

Dear Friends

I am a teacher of Narayansthan and i was really involved in your projects in my VDC, they were very useful for children, family and schools. I know and I read on your website that quite all acyivities are collapsing due the mismanagement of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO. This is very sad and  we are very worried too because several teachers before supported by CCS Italy INGO were laied-off.

I really don’t understand which is their ideas and their future programs. They are destroying years of work and also all well has been done by your NGO which is formed and directed by people of the community. They speak about partnership at community level but in the Coordination Nutrition Committee of DEO (District Education Office) of Kavre they obliged you to leave the seat for a member of CCS Italy, one of the well-paid officer of Kathmandu which has not knowledge of our Timal.

This is really a pity which I hope the italian sponsors of our children will let to Know.

Friendly regards

Binod Kumar

Mid Day Meals programmes in ECDs

We received

 Dear Friends

It is really upsetting to read In previuos posts that due to the high running costs of the italian INGO financing education and nutrition programmes in Kavre District, they decided to reduce daily meal integrations for children in Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs).

It is proved by several studies and experiences that Mid Day Meals programmes is exert a positive influence on enrolment and attendance in schools. In India several states manage such activities since 1980s, becoming national as the decision of Indian Government in 2004.

You should advice this people of italian INGO to read the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, 2006 which could give them some teachings how to run educational and nutrition programmes in a effective way for children and people . Below the link, Friendly wishes,

Nagendra Amatya-Kathmandu

 

 http://education.nic.in/mdm/FINAL_Guidelines_MDM_19_sept.pdf) 

letter to Social Welfare Council

We received

Dear Friends
The worries expressed by the people from the villages where we began the projects in 2003  confirms the letter delivered  to SWC (Social Welfare Council) last september in which I denounced Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo (CCS) INGO for not implementing the agreements related to education, health and community development in Kavre.
From then it seems that Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO is going  to cancel all projects in Kavre, only leaving some formal activities (training, coordination) throughout the local DEO.
In fact they are replacing Kavre sponsored children with new ones located in Kathmandu.
Of course it easier for these people to work few meters from the office than to go in remote and disadvantaged area as Timal (Kavre) it is.
But it is absolutely incorrect to use money which  Italian sponsors donated for Kavre children to other programs.
I stated this wrong attitude in my letter (see below) as well as the huge increasing of office and staff expenditures which are badly affecting the activities for the beneficiaries.
It sounds also quite amusing that the new officers of CCS Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO have been able to buy private cars only after seven months of working in the organization. In short, I believe, that in little less than one years and half they have destroyed four years work, confidence, projects and hopes for the communities of Kavre for their incapacity and wasting of people money. Below the letter I sent to SWC.

To The Members Secretary of
Social Welfare Council
Lainchor
Kathmandu

Dear Sirs
As you know I was the former Country Director (since January 2007) of CCS (Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo) Italy INGO and I signed with SWC and CCS Cooperation & Development  Nepal (local and implementing NGO) three agreements regarding education, health and electrification for the benefits of the deprived and  isolated community and children in Timal area (Kavre District).
In the last days I went in the community where the projects should be implemented and I found among people, teachers and children deeply concern about the state of the projects. During my visit in the community, stakeholders told me that the project (especially education) has been severely cut and other (health and electrification) are reduced to merely trainings and reports.
They submitted to me a list of programs cancelled (as appears to compare the report presented in October 2006  by CCS Italy (under my direction) to SWC (attached).
-food integration for around 800 children enrolled in Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs) founded by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO-
-rent of Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs) before supported and founded by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO-
-coaching classes for secondary schools-
-text books for sponsored children sponsored by CCS in six and seven classes in seven secondary schools-
-distribution to all children in primary schools of copy books, pens, pencils and other didactical materials twice at year for around 5000 children sponsored by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO-
-teachers salary for 14 teachers in secondary schools
– high secondary school (10+2) built by Cooperation & Development  Nepal NGO and community (in 2006) support–
Moreover even the buffalo project directed to the poorest families in the community has been severely reduced.
We heard about plan to further reduce the support of Timal  children for 2009 as well as not start new schools or ECDs building as well all the health programs.
Furthermore, the stakeholders informed me that CCS Nepal has been excluded by any process-making decisions in clear opposition to nepali rule and SWC norms which stated the local NGO should be the implementing agency and should be empowered being formed by local people.

When community protested against reduction of activities, the CCS Italy officers replied they will stop all programs in Timal area and actually they contacted  political representatives to find out any location and  NGOs (good for them) to replace CCS Nepal. It seems clearly the worst way to find out partners, places, and beneficiaries for  new projects. You must consider CCS Nepal is deep rooted in the projects community and thanks to it all projects were proposed and initiated and fund collected. They worked very hard during the conflict to implement them. This happened thanks to transparency, community rooted activities and capacity.
As you know CCS Italy INGO fund come from children sponsorship made by Italian  people who likes to sustain their education, health and life. At the end of 2007 (as document attached) the children sponsored were 3558. Around 3100 are located in Thimal and they should receive the greatest amount of donations. As the official CCS Head Quarter budget attached (on www.ccsit.org) it appears that 45,5% of the amount donated by sponsor it has been used in Italy for administrative costs (in 2006 only 32%)
In Nepal arrived euro 356.338 only euro 30.000 less than  2006 budget (as document attached and auditing given to SWC) due to the higher HQ management costs. From this amount  only 217.550 have been used for projects not only in Thimal but also in Chitwan (around 400 children sponsored, and in Kathmandu (where is easily to work for the new recruited CCS Italy officers.
CCS Italy so stated that euro 150.000 (near the half of all amount sent in Nepal) has been used to pay officers, office and other facilities.
Stakeholders informed me that new appointed officers receive the following monthly salaries:
-Chanda Rai, country director monthly salary        nrs.150.000
-Buddhi Man Shestra education manager,              nrs. 90.000;
-Lachi Singh, health manager                                 nrs. 90.000;
-Vishnu Shestra accountant,                                  nrs 90.000;
-Rajesh Shestra accountant,                                   nrs. 90.000;
-deputy country director                                        nrs 250.000 (exp)
(This amounts are far higher than the salary given to the new appointed Nepali President of Republic and Prime Minister).
Other officers (16) receive salary ranging from Nrs. 40.000 to 20.000.
All this top officers has been provided by a lab top (which cost the amount of children food integration for six months of 800 children cut by them) and cars, health schemes, phones, and other  facilities.
As you know as the Report presented to SWC in 2006, the number of employed of CCS Italy INGO were six, and they managed more activities than now. Because the intention was to enforce the capacity of local NGO and  excluded people (Tamang) from the projects area.
It must be noted and evaluate by SWC that the projects running and signed have not been implemented because the amount stated has not been used for the benefits of Nepali children and people and not given to the implementing local NGO as nepali law, agreements articles and SWC rules stated.
With best regards

Dr. Enrico Crespi
Budhanilkanta
Kathmandu

05 September 2008

letter from the villages

We received

Dear Friends
at the end of September people of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO came to our village and we told them we dont give sponsorship letters from around 300 students because the support to secondary students, teachers, and 10+2 (high secondary) has been cut. The same happened for distribution of copy-books, pens, pencils, and other materials to all the children (around 6000) in Thimal. Some schools decided dont give letters.
We ask the italian but he told us that the responsibility of this cutting on the activities is due to the new Country Director of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO, Mrs. Chanda Rai. But this lady has never came to our village and she cannot understand our needs.
The sample is the new Children Clubs which are not very useful for our community and they were simple copied from some other INGO. Time and money used for this  activities could be used to reinforce our Bal Bikas Kendra (ECDs) and to distribute materials to our children in order to alleviate the education cost burden to the poorest family.
Months ago we sent letters to  Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO nepal and HQ asking better management of the projects but they were without answer. Now we still ask you as local NGO always working in close cooperation with  community to appeal to Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO to resume these activities. You perfectly know how they gave benefits to students and family which cannot afford many money to educate children.
In faith
Saila Tamang, Dhane Bahadur Dong, Raj Magar, Krishna Mainali and others.

During the past year we asked them several times to implement all projects which have been cut from the second half of 2007, like didacticl material distributions and 10+2 support. As you know we started these projects since 2003 with full cooperation of the community, teachers, people and schools.
From 2007 many changes happened in italian Head Quarter and in nepali office, new people arrived and some activities have been cancelled. Some priority is going to be done to new projects in Kathmandu which are more easily managed by the INGO office.

Contrarily to the past, we have no voice in deciding the strategies of the INGO and they declared, also in your village,  their budget declined in 2007 and 2008.
In June 2008, they published  2007 Budget on http://www.ccsit.org (in the past it was also in english now only in italian), translated it appears:

-Amount of fund collected from italian sponsors: euro 35,078,60   (-16% compared to 2006)
-Amount distributed to supported countries : euro 19, 485,82    (55,55% of total collected. In 2006 the amount was 68,81%)
-Amount used in Italy for office running expenses : euro 15,592,78      (44,45% in 2006 it was 31,19%)

 

 

 

 

 -Amount for Nepal Projects and running expenses (3558 children sponsored): euro 3,563,38 (-2% compared to 2006)
-Amount used for projects (Kathmandu Chitwan, Kavre):     euro 2,175, 58    (60,9%)
-Amount used for running office expenses CCS Italy IMGO: euro 1,387,80     (39,1%)

 

 

 

 

 The huge increasing of administrative expenses in italian HQ and in the INGO Kathmandu Office (compared to the previous years) is due to the strategy to enlarge the number of officers (in Nepal from 4 to 22) in order to assure a better projects management. It should be noticed, around 40% of the projects budget has been spent  in Kathmandu and Chitwan projects.
Of course our NGO received less than 60% of the 2006 amount and following the decisions of Centro Cooperazione Sviluppo INGO Nepal office (enlarge the office, new projects in Kathmandu, etc.) we were obliged to cut many programmed activities in spite of project agreements signed.
It is worth to note that the majority of sponsored children (around 3200) are located in Kavre but we didn’t receive an equivalent percentage of funds.