The Vote on Poverty

Dear Editor

The issue of NGOs and their contribution to the eradication of poverty is an interesting one on which I would like to comment and not just vote.

1. One of the problems relating to this issue is that many NGOs who provide broadly based social welfare services is that they themselves provide these services from an inadequate pool of resources.

For example - where the government department responsible for roads contracts for the building of the bridge, tenders are called for and contractors bid and the successful bid is fully covered – we never hear of government providing 60% of the cost of the bridge and requesting that the contractor fundraise for the balance of the contract cost. Most social welfare services provided by NGOs are subsidised and not fully funded – even when these are the responsibility of government to provide - e.g child welfare services. Therefore precious time and effort is spent raising money for the balance of the cost of providing services and there is the constant tension of having your own “begging bowl” extended whilst one tries to contribute poverty alleviation of the community one serves.

2. Many NGOs provide services in a specific field – again I use the example of social welfare services. Their indirect contribution to alleviating poverty is often not recognised – for example providing services to an abused child empowers that child to benefit more fully from educational opportunities which enhances that child’s capacity to become a productive adult.

3. Some NGOs have been pressurised to take on “job creation and poverty alleviation projects” in order to secure continued funding that are really beyond their field of expertise. So for example one finds child welfare societies sometimes supporting sewing projects with women living in poverty, or NGOs designed to provide mental health services providing work opportunities through “workshops” for the mentally disabled.

We all should be trying to contribute to poverty alleviation as an integral part of our activities but also need to recognise that poverty reduction at scale requires broad, cross sector, across all levels of government and civil society vision, planning and coordination.

Regards – and thanks for an interesting newsletter and website.

Joan van Niekerk
National Coordinator
Childline South Africa