NGO Funding

On 20 March the Swazi News carried a story about a German named Mr. Albrecht, who was in the country visiting NGOs. Apparently Mr. Albrecht has a great deal of cash, and he was considering whether to give some of that money to Swaziland NGOs.

Mr. Musa Hlophe made some interesting comments. The Times paraphased Hlophe to the effect that the government's current budget proposal has no money allocated for NGOs. Let us remember what "NGO" stands for: "Non Governmental Organization". Mr. Hlophe is concerned that the government isn't giving a non-governmental organization money.

It is no secret that many NGOs make less-than-encouraging remarks about government policy and practices, and there is definitely room in any civil society for healthy and constructive debate. But it does seem odd that government would, and in some opinions should, give money to NON governmental groups which turn around and criticise the government that funds them. The Swazi proverb "hamba sandla, buya sandla" might be modified to hamba sandla, shaya sandla, with the addendum kepha ungadzinwa kusasa.

Secondly, Mr. Hlophe was quoted as saying "Bread for the World is found wherever there is human suffering something contrary to what the corporate world was doing. The world over the corporate world funds glamorous projects that do not involve ordinary people."

Now there's no denying that lots of aid and self-help schemes are big and expensive and useless, and don't help the people they are intended to. But not every scheme is a failure. Gone Rural, based in Malkerns, has a good reputation for employing bomake with traditional skills and then helping those mothers with their childrens' school fees, etc. Gone Rural harnesses market forces to give Swazi women income and other benefits. The genius of the corporate world is not that it "funds glamorous projects that do not involve ordinary people," but that it hires ordinary people so they can meet the needs of their family and even have money to share with others.

I don't know how Mr. Albrecht made his fortune, but is hard to imagine he made his billions of Emalangeni by only travelling around the world and giving it away. Despite its faults, free market capitalism (which does include some degree of corporatism) has generated lots of income and lifted lots of people to higher living standards. Why, it has even made it possible for some individuals to travel the world funding NGOs which seek to alleviate human suffering.

Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com