PHM-Exch> Food for a value-added thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 300

* *

*THE QUESTION FOR NGOs TO ASK THEMSELVES IS: *

*WHAT IS THE ADDED VALUE OF HUMAN RIGHTS FOR US? *

*IS IT ANOTHER TOOL OR THE KEY TOOL?*





NGOs need to be  more honest about their long-term achievements
*and*non-achievements. Are they advocating for (the needed) more
systemic
political changes?



The transparency of *some* international NGOs has been assessed as worse
than that of many a private sector company and certainly worse than the
transparency of UN organizations. This calls for openly denouncing their
failure to recognize the dire need to foster organization-wide human rights
learning within; obviously, significant changes are needed here. A critical
mass of such INGOs doing such an introspection to revision and remission
themselves is indispensable. Such an introspection is needed to shatter the
myth of their long term contributions to development -- and their alleged
sense of superiority. Don't we need to warn these INGOs against feeling
great? In reality, they achieve little.


INGOs grab the moral attention of the liberal-minded in rich countries who
feel compelled to support them. But, in fact, a good number of them are
not-really-benevolent, detached and progressive INGOs. Their leadership
tends to be oligarchic and personalized (few have elections for their
leadership); Charismatic founders tend to dominate. Not all publish proper
accounting statements. They are often far away from grassroots needs and
preferences; they ‘impose themselves'. They continue to press for
perceived-progressive normative aims, but often fail to respond to doubts
about their legitimacy and accountability. In short, they suffer from a
democratic deficit. They make public-good-claims, but use moralistic
language. They are thus progressively becoming de-legitimized and are
losing their veneer of anti-establishment appeal.  They further often
mirror World Bank prescriptions; for that, they can be categorized as
servile.

For the full Reader, go to

http://wp.me/plAxa-1E1

Claudio
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