It surprises me often time when any individual or organization comes up with the statement, “Government doesn’t do anything so we exist.” Then I come up with a thought how can a well boast that it is quenching thirst of people when the rivers however be in there state has been providing the service to bigger mass. Hence, I take opportunity to paraphrase the statement into, “Government has not been able to do it itself, hence we are just giving a hand.”
There are many benefits added in the latter statement. Government normally has enough budget but the organizations , non government organizations NGOs, lack more often. If the organization could link their work in the priority area set by the government, it relieves government from its pressure. Not just do they happily accept or recognize the effort, many times have supported financially to achieve it too. Once in an organization, I worked, was seriously lacking fund. The fund generated through the membership was just sufficient for legal procedures, in registering the organization. In such a deadlock situation, not a single member came up with an idea to execute any program. Then we came to know government was preparing for the first election in identifying Constituently Assembly members. Government seemed to lack enough human resource in reaching to each and every village, hence it was also looking for a partner who could mobilize there volunteers. We decided to approach the election commission and offered our help. The idea worked well and organization was able to generate some fund for later programs of the organization. This was a win-win situation for both organization and election commission.
Poverty Alleviation Fund, one of the biggest government supported programs, seeks for proposal from local organizations that meet their criteria and could work in alleviating work which government becomes unable to address alone. I have met organizations who have cleverly aligned their objective with the government. One of them is an organization which receives money d from the government and provides hostel facility to the women living with disability from relevant government. This should be sufficient to prove that the government and organizations can go hand in hand.
A business selling products should know the aspirations of its customers. Similarly, an organization which is not for profit and looks for donation often should know the priority area in which government spends money. They should research on what the goals are set by government and in which sector. Then, the NGO should come up with a proposal on how they could compliment the work and why working with them is effective than any other existing techniques.
As the Millennium Development Goals’ deadline is approaching, there are still some time left to exercise by the not for profit sectors to team up with respective government agencies. While the chance of not achieving all the goals is in large, the opportunity to speed up in reaching the goal is through partnership of government and private sectors. For example: lack of relevant data on literacy and lesser chances in fulfilling objective of primary education for all is window of opportunity for organizations working in education sector to work along with the government education agencies.
There is more we can achieve through collaboration by aligning ourselves in achieving common goal. May the not for profit sector and government understand and practice this sooner. ;evolusun
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