Nationalising International Non-Governmental Organisations in Kurdistan
Kurdishaspect.com - By Werner Nijman
Kurdistan – a region covering parts of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. The area has been in turmoil for many years, and the inhabitants regarded as one of world’s largest people groups without their own nation. The region called Iraqi – Kurdistan has been in the news often since Saddam Hussein has tried to eradicated these peoples, e.g. through gas bombing them in 1988 in the town of Halabja during which attack thousands have died, most recently because of the 2nd Golf War and the aftermath. These events, the lack of medical care, and the slow social development caused a growth of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) since the first Golf War (1991) in Iraqi-Kurdistan under the protection of the United Nations, and with some financial support from the “Oil for Food” programme.
More then a dozen of these agencies are dealing specifically with the landmines that have been laid during e.g. the Iran – Iraq war to be used against the invading armies, and by Saddam before and after the First Golf War, and more recently during the Second War in 2003. While the purpose of the mining during the wars was mainly to stop advancing armies, Saddam also placed many mines to limit movement of the Kurdish population. To accomplish this goal, he forced many Kurdish people out of their villages, then bulldozed the villages to the ground and to finish his work and stop the return of the inhabitants, many landmines and booby traps were laid in and around those destroyed villages. It is reckoned that more than 5,000 villages were destroyed this way, thus creating a large internally displaced people group in search of housing and living, adding a significant burden to the already overcrowded larger towns in the Northern Governorates.
According to some sources, there are enough landmines in the North of Iraq to assure another 20 to 25 years work for a workforce of more then 1,200 men, to make the areas safe to men and animals alike.
Obviously, many people have been killed or injured because of landmines. Children have been picking up the strange looking objects, thereby maiming themselves, if not being killed. Some families having survived the years of violence, now thinking that the war is over, have returned to their villages, only to find themselves with family members being killed by those hidden explosives. Many people, young and old, have limbs missing due to landmines or un-exploded ordinances. Even today, people are being injured because of mines (or UXO), come to visit the special Prosthetic Limbs Centres. Fortunately much less are loosing limbs now, as compared to several years ago.
Just over half a dozen Prosthetic Limbs Centres offering prostheses and orthoses have been started in the Northern Regions alone, since the first Golf War to deal with this group of disabled peoples, offering them their services. Since then, thousands of amputees have been fitted with artificial limbs. In the centres of Handicap International Belgium (that moved into the Kurdistan regions in 1992, and has since established 4 Orthopaedic Centres) more then 26,000 disabled people have been registered, many of whom have missing feet, or legs, because of mines.
Most of these centres were receiving funding from UNOPS, a United Nations Organisation, giving financial support to the so-called “Mine Victim” programmes. Unfortunately, most of this funding stopped during 2004, due to the departure of the United Nations, and with the newly formed interim government, who are supposed to take over this aspect of medical / social rehabilitation of amputees. Obviously, a new government takes time to organise itself, and Mine Victim assistance is not seen as one of the priorities, thereby it has been rated as less urgent, and thereby causing funding problems with many of the existing orthopaedic centres that have tried to continue functioning independently of the UN.
Several of these centres that were first started by international agencies have entered into a new phase, and are in the process of seeking independency. This is partly because of the apparent lack of interest as shown by the national government, and also because of the new found independency in the whole of Iraq, which also gave a feeling of wanting to be independent of the big international agencies.
However, with this move of nationalisation or independency, a whole new series of problems have come to the surface. Of course there is the funding issue, large international agencies that have a reputation with international donors in general find funding easier than new, unknown, small organisations. But more importantly there are the different perceptions in management styles.
In Iraq, having been ruled by decades by dictatorship, independency was not encouraged, and not appreciated. If initiative was shown, it could have been stopped, sometimes even with torture or execution. Therefore, national staff often displays a hesitation to take initiative or more importantly, take the responsibility for decisions taken. It is an encouraging exception to find individuals who show a good sense of being independent, and not being intimidated by the often daunting feelings that come with carrying the final responsibility.
Following the trend of these last few years of creating national non-governmental organisations there have been many successes, but also, and unfortunately, a few failures. Even a few days ago, a report came that while negotiating funding; a prosthetics centre in the North of the country had to send its staff home due to lack of money to pay salaries.
However, if good national leadership is found, there is a good survival change. For example, there was a programme run by a large International, English Humanitarian agency, where a few years ago the national staff pushed for independency. They received what they requested, but unfortunately without initial help by the parent agency. The local leadership initially fought a hard battle, loosing most of its staff. But having found its feet, it is now a well respected agency, running many projects in the area, and securing sufficient funding from national government, and more importantly, from international donors too.
One of the weak points in becoming a Local Non Governmental Organisation is the legal creation of such an entity. As Local NGOs are a new kind of organisation, it principles are therefore much unknown by local government officials that are under the impression that Local NGOs should be part of a ministry and under their control, which can result in Local NGO’s executive staff having to argue its independency from Ministerial Departments. Sometimes resulting in long drawn frustrating battles with ministerial directors, but also sometimes receiving good support from those officials.
One of the secrets of being successful in this culture is having good friends in high places, and relationship building with people in power. This part of the culture can be alien to expatriate personnel that have been involved in supporting local programmes, and are often not understood. Once realising that good relationships are often key to the success of a local organisation, the official registration and establishment of a new programme becomes much easier (albeit often not without frustration) if the expatriate support staff focuses on the empowerment of the national staff, the programme will have good changes of succeeding.
Another new principle with the establishment of a local organisation is that a Board of Directors / Trustees needs to be found and created. This is a totally new principle and unknown to most of the population. According to local concept, directors are supposed to be in charge of the daily running and management of work, and the idea that directors on a board are there to make sure of the mandate and the main strategy of a programme, but not being involved in the day to day management is a concept that needs much efforts, introduction and major explanation before the new board members can understand and come to terms with this principle of being held responsible to a programme, but not being directly in charge of any of its activities.
Once the Board of Directors is in place, the statutes and the mandate have been formulated; the official application has to be made for registration. If it is a handover from an International Organisation to a Local Organisation, this is fairly straight forward, if however, a new organisation has to be formed, it means a lot of bureaucracy. Making official applications and having to receive approval from at least 3 ministries, Ministries of Foreign Affairs (that registers new Local NGOs), Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Justice. With all of these officials, diplomacy is crucial if permission is to be granted. Next the work can either start or continue.
Many Local Non-Government Agencies have started these last years in Kurdistan, are working with Disabled Peoples, and are running its activities independently from the government. However, due to local laws, many of these also do receive some monthly instalments, to help cover day to day expenses, which is of course a help to those Local NGOs, as they are struggling to find their feet, and survival in a Humanitarian Aid Culture where it becomes difficult to find continued funding for development activities.
International donors especially the UN and the U.S government office are also happy to empower the local community. In fact, much money is being dedicated to help Local NGOs grow all across Iraq. Millions of US dollars have already been allocated. As with those in the North, they are more experienced due to the years of semi-independency after the first Golf War, and have more capacities to run programmes on their own. It is certainly more realistic if a gradual exit plan exists for international NGOs wishing to transfer programmes to local staff. Obviously international staff of the International NGOs must make sure that the staff “get the aid business right” otherwise their potentials for growth is limited, or it endangers the continued existence of the local programme.
Of course, not all International NGOs localize their programmes. Several of them don’t trust national staff enough to be able to carry more responsibilities, which is unfortunate, as many local staff are just as good, if not better, then Expatriates. Not handing over more responsibilities to nationals will also present another problem, in case the expats will have to evacuate for whatever reasons. However, the new aid trend shows that localizing is like a “mission accomplished” in empowering and helping people stand on their feet, showing them respect and treating them as equals.
The hope is that democracy will continue to develop, and following this, the place for Non-Governmental Organisations will increase. There is a place for both, governmental and private institutions, they should not be seen as opponents, or local NGOs as businesses with hidden agendas, but as a support to each other, each having a role to play in serving the disabled in Iraq. The hope is that with the new climate, things will change for the better, and that the disabled people will have a change to better their lives in this culture, where disabilities used to be frowned upon…… but that is another story.
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September 8, 2008
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