AsiaLIFE

Winds of change are blowing through the NGO sector in Cambodia. Since the early ‘90s, the country has seen a proliferation of non-governmental organisations. An estimated 1,000 NGOs are currently active in the Kingdom. If the post-1997 stability has allowed many organisations to prosper and grow, then some ten years on a new set of challenges are facing the industry, making even established actors consider their future. Words by Nora Lindstrom.

NGOs in Cambodia come in all shapes and sizes, from big international organisations with million-dollar budgets to small, community-centred organisations with annual budgets in the thousands. The work of NGOs spans a variety of sectors, from health to education, through human rights and community development, to microfinance and de-mining. All are non-governmental and by and large not-for-profit. Consequently, the NGO sector is often spoken of as one homogenous group, though in truth it is highly diverse. As the economic recession takes its toll and the government increases its control, the differences between the actors is becoming more pronounced, with those able to adapt to the times staying afloat, whilst others being forced to abandon ship.

Chhit Sam Ath, director of NGO Forum, has worked in the NGO sector since 1992. He recognises that NGOs in Cambodia are facing a new set of difficulties, but notes that the sector has gone through a number of changes since its rapid rise after the 1993 election. “The challenges have changed over time and so have NGO approaches,” he says. “We’ve gone from rehabilitation and service delivery, to development and increasing Cambodian ownership of the sector.” The environment in which NGOs operate has also altered. In the past there were threats of physical violence, today these have been replaced by legal challenges, he claims.

Graeme Storer, director of capacity-building organisation VBNK, notes that there is no one cause for the changes currently sweeping through the sector. Like Sam Ath, he takes a long-term view, arguing that the sector has been very fluid since its inception. “When there’s an economic downturn people start to look at the budget,” he says. “But I also think people become more selective, and all of us need to be able to respond to the environment.”

No Money, No Honey

The fall-out from the global recession is being felt in Cambodia too. According to Sharon Wilkinson, Country Director of CARE Cambodia, it’s a shrinking world, financially speaking. The recession has affected CARE. Donor foundations, whose support is generally based on interest rates, have reduced their budgets. Governments, though not reneging on commitments, are providing less aid because this is calculated as a proportion of a shrinking GNP. “In response, our plans had to be rapidly restructured and that impacted on jobs and the amount of development we could do,” she says. “I think all NGOs are now looking at how their work continues and how to make every dollar count as a result of the funds that they do have.”

Wolfgang Möllers is director of Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED), a German donor organisation focusing on personnel cooperation. Though DED itself has increased both international and local development experts in the past few years, Wolfgang acknowledges funding problems are a reality for many of DED’s partners. “Be it the recession, be it change of priorities – very often you cannot tell the actual reason – but the trend is clear, there is a reduction of funds,” he says. Sam Ath is not so sure. He argues that whether or not local NGOs are facing funding problems largely depends on the organisation itself. He considers it the responsibility of donors to ensure their funds go to accountable and effective organisations, implying those fulfilling donors’ criteria are unlikely to be affected. “NGO Forum has not felt much impact yet,” he says. However, he recognises that the effect might be delayed, as funding for 2009 was already secured by many organisations before the start of the recession.

Going Private

Some promote closer ties with the private sector and hence less reliance on donors as the way forward for cash-strapped NGOs. According to Rupert Abbot, director of Development and Programmes at the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), his organisation is looking to develop relationships with businesses. Though currently seeking mainly pro bono services from the private sector, Rupert believes civil society and the private sector will increasingly merge in the future. “I think what we will see in the next few years … decades … is the rise of social entrepreneurship, or the sustainable NGO, which is somewhere in between a business and what we now know as an NGO,” he says.

Susan Kennedy, a sustainable tourism professional running the Stay Another Day project says a move towards the private sector is required. “I think a lot of NGOs don’t think about the private sector when they do projects,” she says. “Perhaps they don’t have business mindsets behind their projects. It’s all do-gooder stuff, but the minute they leave it falls apart.” According to her, some of the eco-tourism projects in Cambodia are currently sustainable without donor backing.

The Stay Another Day booklet, which showcases socially responsible NGO and private sector initiatives, is an interesting example of a non-profit initiative going private. Heavily donor funded before, when the project’s main backer left the tourism sector last year, GTZ as the remaining donor began a search for a private partner. “It’s a great success story,” says Sue, explaining that although going private led to significant increases in the price charged to be included in the booklet, the project still achieved a 65 percent repeat rate and the number of initiatives featured increased from 37 to 45.

Localisation

Another trend is going local. Sam Ath says that many organisations are not only shifting towards employing more local staff, but also moving to change their registration from international to national NGO. “I think it’s a positive trend because it reflects that Cambodians have the capacity to take over and have ownership of the issues that we work on,” he says. According to Sharon Wilkinson, localisation can also mean increased efficiency. “National NGOs are in many ways more articulate than the international NGOs on the issues that they are faced with, precisely because they are Cambodian,” she argues.

As a donor working with both NGOs and the government, DED’s approach has always been to ensure locals are at the forefront of activities. “Capacity building has been our idea from the very beginning,” says Wolfgang Möllers. He explains how DED-funded development experts work with particular organisations for four to five years, after which the organisations are expected to stand on their own two feet.

Graeme Storer agrees that local capacity building is crucial, recognising an on-going move in donors’ approaches away from one-off trainings, to longer-term commitment and the building of local capacity. “I think that’s the shift, in how donors are using their money. It’s about trying to be more strategic about it,” he says. Still, some things don’t change. “It’s interesting to look at what seems to remain important for people. Good management practice, accountability, and transparency remain high on the list.”

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

To demonstrate these three attributes, self-certification is an increasingly common phenomenon in the NGO sector globally, and is slowly catching on in Cambodia too. The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia’s Good Practice Project (GPP) is the local leader in the field. “The NGO community should not only advocate for good governance from the government, but also build internal good governance,” says Pen Bopha, project manager of the GPP.

The project has developed a Code of Ethical Principles and Minimum Standards for NGOs in Cambodia, the satisfactory fulfilment of which gains organisations GPP certification. Bopha believes that certification allows organisations to differentiate themselves from others by proving to be transparent, accountable, and efficient. Though a challenge for the NGO sector, the recession provides an opportunity, as it is pushing more organisations to apply for the certificate, according to Bopha.

Graeme also sees opportunities amidst the financial gloom. “For VBNK, it’s really forced us to look at what it is that we want to hold on to, and what it is that we can let go of without being nostalgic,” he says. VBNK is one of only twelve GPP certified organisations. Graeme hopes more organisations will hurry to sign up to the project. “For us it was important to be part of the GPP because we have always wanted to be a lead capacity development organisation. It was really about walking the talk,” he says.

The forward-thinking, Prum Thoeun, director of local NGO Salvation Centre Cambodia, also ensured his organisation gained GPP certification as a matter of priority. He perceived it as being crucial to ensuring continued donor support for SCC’s work in HIV/Aids. His efforts have paid off. “Our budget has increased despite the economic crisis,” Thoeun says. “Part of that is thanks to the GPP certification.”

Legal Challenges

Certification or not, the upcoming NGO law has created uncertainty within the sector. “NGO laws are not necessarily bad and they exist throughout the world,” says Rupert Abbot. “They can be useful ways of regulating NGOs and preventing abuse by NGO.” Sharon Wilkinson echoes this view. While she has no problems with a law regulating the sector in theory, she says the current trend of using an incomplete and partial general legal framework to challenge civil society is worrying. “Bringing in a law that can close down the embryonic national and international NGO sector is of great concern,” she says.

Pen Bopha suggests that NGOs can use self-certification to prepare for the future. “We can’t stop or prevent the NGO law, but if the NGOs prepare themselves already then when the law comes it won’t affect them,” she says. In an effort to alleviate government concerns, Sam Ath makes a point of stressing that NGOs are not working against the government. “The role of NGOs is to complement the government in helping poverty reduction – the overarching goal of the government and NGOs is the same,” he says. “We are not working against the government, but working to solicit government support to address issues affecting the poor and vulnerable.”

Future of the Sector

Localisation, privatisation, mergers, partnerships, and closures seem to be in store for the Cambodian NGO sector. Nevertheless few seem to think current challenges will stifle the sector. “The government is right, no one voted us in,” Sharon Wilkinson says. “But democracy, particularly participatory democracy, demands that if you see something that is not in the interest of the public, the voice of civil society also needs to be heard. It does no one any favours to close that voice down.” Graeme’s view is not far off. “You can look at any country, whether it’s developed or not developed, and find that there are NGOs,” he states. “They fill a particular place in the social sector that the government doesn’t reach. So there’s always a need for a non-governmental sector.”

The global recession does however mean there are hard times ahead. “I don’t think the current climate can sustain as many NGOs as there are at the moment. I can see NGOs merging, and collaborating more on projects,” Rupert Abbot says. He adds that the innovative, flexible and increasingly professional actors are likely to survive. According to Graeme, organisational change is imperative. “NGOs need to reassess their role, and particularly international NGOs,” he says. “It always surprises me that NGOs come into countries and they don’t have exit strategies.”

Medecins Sans Frontiers Belgium recently quit Cambodia after more than two decades in the country, citing that Cambodia is no longer a conflict zone. Graeme suggests others should follow suit. “There are still a lot of NGOs in that service-delivery mode, and ultimately, that’s not the role of the NGO. It’s the role of the government to be the service-provider,” he says. Sharon stresses that despite a great deal of positive changes and development since the early ‘90s, Cambodia is not yet at a stage where international organisations are not needed.

“Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the region,” she says. “This is not a country that an NGO interested in alleviating poverty and eliminating social marginalisation walks away from – you don’t walk away from those issues and say the job’s done.”