Under guidance of a Civil Society Steering Committee, which included the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and two members of the NGO Committee for Social Development (Marianists International and the Sisters of Charity Federation), a broad-based survey was undertaken to measure the impact of the crises on the operating capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) around the world and their expectations as they look ahead. The study examines the current financial situation of CSOs civil society organizations worldwide and asks what strategies CSOs are undertaking to cope with a drop of revenues. 640 CSOswidely distributed among the different regions in the world responded to the survey, most of them from Africa and Asia, from Europe, the US and from Latin America. A quick summary is below and attached. The papers are available at http://ngosocdev.wordpress.com/
Although some civil society organization (CSOs) have seen increased funding, overall the survey finds a worsening financial situation for CSOs in the period 2008-2009. As main reasons, CSOs explained that owing to the world economic crisis grants from existing sources decreased. CSOs have seen reductions by individual contributors, private foundations, international institutions and governments, although not necessarily by all categories at once. Most of the reductions have occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Latin America and in some European countries several CSOs have seen a cut back in their budgets and programmes to the global recession. The prospects for 2010 do not look better. The revenue decline comes at the same time as demand for services is increasing, requiring more, not less, funding. CSOs report that the amount and scope of requests for support has grown, and they project for the next two years further increases in requests foremergency relief and for support to provide basic social services. Many humanitarian and development CSOs are therefore intensifying their fundraising efforts.
However, CSOs are keenly aware that for all their efforts, they are relatively small actors in social development. They see, that only governments can act on the scale required and they must play their role. Thus, CSOs participating in the present study make recommendations to governments on this score. First, home governments where CSOs operate are strongly urged to mobilize the requisite resources for social development programmes. This requires, in the view of the survey respondents, more effectively tackling corruption and collecting taxes that are more fairly structured. The programmes needed are embodied in social safety nets, basic income grants for the poorest, and implementation of the Decent Work Agenda. Internationally, participants called for donor governments to step up their official development assistance and to channel more of it directly through CSOs on the ground. Finally, CSOs look to the international community for more effective cooperation on economic matters, as in stronger assistance in reducing opportunities for tax evasion and in developing innovative sources of financing for global public goods. The most promising option discussed at this moment for such additional funds is the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) which would be established by national governments to tax transactions within their jurisdictions in all kinds of financial assets: shares, bonds, securities and derivatives. Responding CSOs also expressed the need to restate global principles that should govern international economic and financial policy through a new “United Nations charter for a sustainable and socially oriented market economy.
The current situation demonstrates that the ability of CSOs to mobilize financial resources weakens during a crisis just when the need for their social services rises. People around the world have been less able than before to step up their assistance. Similarly, private foundations face reduced capacity to deliver funds as their own assets and earnings have declined in the crisis. Therefore, governments and international institutions need to step in and act “counter-cyclically” and seek a way to institutionalize stable and predictable financial supportfor necessary programmes of CSOs.
For the full study, see: http://ngosocdev.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/study-on-impact-of-global-crises-on-csos.pdf
For the summary paper, see: http://ngosocdev.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/executive-summary-of-impact-of-crises-on-csos.pdf