NGO Forum

            Editor’s note: Swissinfo published the above-titled article, which reads as follows:

“The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) says it will spread its financial contributions to NGOs and umbrella groups to a wider array of organisations. Funding will be capped for individual NGOs to ‘help increase competition and boost innovation.’

In future the SDC external link will limit funding of individual NGO and umbrella group projects to CHF8 million ($8.1 million). This means that from 2021 ‘contributions to the international programmes of individual NGOs will be limited to 30%, while federal contributions to the international budgets of umbrella organisations, cantonal federations and NGO alliances will be capped at 40%,’ read an SDC statement external link on Tuesday.

Editor’s note: NGO Advisor published the above-titled article, which reads as follows:

“Innovation, Impact, and Governance: this is what NGO Advisor looks at when analysing the non-profit world, or should we say the ’Social Profit world‘. Welcome to the Top 500 NGOs 2019 list.

‘The 2019 list reflects the many changes of the past year, with 40 organizations appearing for the first time,’ said Jean-Christophe Nothias, chairman of NGO Advisor. ‘Alongside these new organisations joining the 2019 rankings, the list comes with its share of surprise, anticipation, and sometimes disappointment. It also means that, sadly, 40 organisations did not make the cut this year. Being part of the Ivy league is still something to battle for.’

Editors note: Noozhawk posted the above-titled article, which reads as follows:

“By Jim Logan for UCSB | June 1, 2019 | 3:03 p.m.

Every year, China’s central government hands down scores of mandates on issues like the environment and education to local officials. But in a country with thousands of counties, districts, townships and more, ensuring compliance with those rules presents a huge challenge.

A national-scale experiment conducted over five years and designed by two UCSB scholars and their collaborators at Nanjing University, demonstrates that monitoring of local governments by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) plays a direct role in boosting compliance with national policy orders.

Editor’s Note: The Daily Monitor posted the above-titled article, which reads in part as follows:

“The Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), the largest pool of donor funding to non-governmental organisations in Uganda, has terminated funding to four NGOs after a forensic audit uncovered widespread rot and corruption.

Unsupported expenditure, outright theft, improper procurements and using the same documents to account to different donors, were some of the issues uncovered, according to sources familiar with the investigation. Some of the NGOs provided receipts dated before events had taken place, or for petroleum consumption tagged to license plates that turned out to belong to heavy-duty diesel trucks, which do not belong to the NGO fleet.”

Editor’s Note: The Stanford Social Innovation review published the above-titled article, which reads in part as follows:

“International non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have repeatedly won Nobel prizes for their advocacy work and helped combat major world problems ranging from arms control to global poverty. However, international advocacy organizations, particularly those from high-income countries in the Global North, face a growing crisis of relevance.

Policymakers and the general public increasingly question the accuracy of NGOs’ claims and the legitimacy of allowing Northern NGOs to speak for, or advocate on behalf of, people living in developing countries. In a growing number of countries, legal restrictions on foreign NGOs have limited Northern NGOs’ ability to conduct operations or provide funding, reducing their access and capacity to work with Southern partners.

Editor’s Note: The above titled article was posted here by PRObono Australia. This article reads as follows:

“Greater Good International (GGI) signed an agreement on Wednesday with mission empowerment not for profit AidHub, which aims to help aid NGOs effectively plan, implement, monitor and report on their initiatives.

Supported through a global partnership with Amazon Web Service, AidHub is developing a cloud-based tool that supports NGOs to meet the 17 SDGs, with the SDG targets and indicators seamlessly integrated into the platform.

The standard package – which includes a comprehensive set of templates and tools to measure and compare impact – will be free for any NGO worldwide.

Reliefweb posted the above-titled article By Kris Flegg, Senior Humanitarian Adviser, Christian Aid.  This article reads as follows:

“On 16-17 May, Christian Aid will be present at this year’s Grand Bargain cash workstream meeting in Rome, to discuss how to ensure local organisations are not left behind as we move towards more widespread use of cash transfers in humanitarian response.

The Grand Bargain is an initiative to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian response which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016. Together with other international NGOs, UN agencies, and donor states, Christian Aid signed up to the Grand Bargain’s 51 commitments, which seek to make the aid system more responsive to communities living through conflicts and natural disasters.

Egypt Independent posted the above-titled article, which reads as follows:

“Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity GhadaWaly announced on Friday that the committee formed to amend Law No. 70 of 2017 regarding the regulation of non governmental organization (NGO) work has chosen to abolish the law instead, and replace it with an all-new one.

In a statement, Waly said that a new law is being prepared in the light of recommendations to strengthen civil society work because of its positive role in social development, which reflects on the citizen’s daily lives.

Open Global rights posted the above-titled article, which reads in part as follows:

“The pressure on non-governmental organizations and independent media in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has been devastating for many groups. Yet it has also proven the resilience of the sector, leading to incredible levels of innovation and adaption among civil society. NGOs and media outlets are looking beyond international donors and starting to think in a more business-focused way. As a result, they are making steps towards sustainability by generating both income and support closer to home. This shift is also presenting new opportunities for international donors to help ensure local groups have the skills, security, networks and knowledge to successfully dive into the world of making money.

SeafoodSource posted the above-titled article, which reads in part as follows:

“There was a time when many in the seafood industry openly disliked the Monterey Bay Aquarium. And not long ago, the aquarium’s Seafood Watch program didn’t think very highly of much commercially-produced seafood, such as the equivalent of the industry’s bread and butter – farmed salmon. As recently as 2013, Seafood Watch advised its millions of sustainability-conscious adherents  to avoid farmed salmon altogether.

But a month ago, at the 2019 Seafood Expo North America event, Jennifer Kemmerly, Monterey Bay Aquarium’s director of global fisheries and aquaculture, stood on stage at a special assembly hosted by the Chilean Salmon Marketing Council and declared that previous era of combativeness to be over.”