Vigilance necessary

The Himalayan Times

8 July 2014

Vigilance necessary

The government should have formed long ago a high level committee to study the status of I/NGO funded activities and brought them under its purview in one way or the other. The absence of regular and affective control mechanism in the government system has made difficult to assess the real situation of I/NGO funded development programs. The existing Social Welfare Centre (SWC) does not seem to have developed such mechanism making itself merely a non functioning organization. This situation has made I/NGOs easier to channel their development funds in their own ways.

However, it was good to know that the government has now realized about this burning issues and formed a high level committee under the leadership of National Vigilance Centre to investigate the impacts and consequences of I/NGO activities in Nepal and identify the problems with SWC as well in “Strong regulation of INGO/s sought” (THT, 6 July, Page 1).

The report has strongly further recommended converting SWC into a separate department under the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare allowing it to tighten the screws on I/NGOs activities keeping in view empowering and strengthening the SCW in its existing roles. Unless the government is clear about the roles of these I/NGOs in the national development agenda, the haphazard implementation of development programs and misutilization of funds will continue to take place hampering the achievement of government’s development goals and objectives. The findings and recommendation of this high level committee should be strictly implemented.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj, Kathmandu