OUTLOOK 2000/LATIN AMERICA: NGOs Gain More Influernce

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 19 1999 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Latin America see their star on the rise in the 21st century, caused by a shrinking of state powers coupled with the discrediting of political parties and labour unions.

Also called the “third sector,” NGO’s are defined as groups which provide services parallel to the state and private sector. As successes have piled up in recent years, they have won the trust of both governments and businesses which have begun to work more intimately with such groups.

Presidents and politicians now mention NGOs more frequently in their speeches as a way of legitimising government projects, as well as incorporating both the advice and structure of NGOs into their own policies.

The NGOs are an indispensable liaison between the state and society in fighting corruption, eliminating bureaucracy, defending the environment and consumer rights, ensuring that aid reaches the neediest and bringing a gender perspective to public policy- making.

The private sector also coming to rely on NGOs as an alternative partner, although there are still some who warn of the risks of increasingly efficient groups supplanting the state in areas that should be the sole responsibility of the government.

A poll carried out by Gallup Argentina revealed that 86 percent of business executives identified non-profit organisations as the best institutions to deal with social problems; 80 percent also cited the Catholic Church and 56 percent, the school system.

The state entities most respected by the public are municipal authorities, although they trailed the NGOs at 27 percent, followed by the national government (19 percent), labor unions (five percent) and political parties (three percent).

Interviwed by IPS, a group of NGO representatives from four Latin American countries agreed that the third sector has grown in recent years and gained influence in areas as diverse as human rights, gender, education, the environment, poverty and the fishing industry.

“The erosion of the state in its defense of the public and the cynicism toward political parties have raised people’s expectations about NGOs and, accordingly, have (increased) the responsibilities they are assuming with respect to community needs,” explains Ernesto Godelman, of the Argentinean NGO Cedepesca.

Godelman says there is increased participation in the public issues movement but admits that, in Latin America, there are still pockets of resistance.

In the fishing sector – the focus of Cedepesca – government, labour and business circles remain cool to any cooperation – having previously monopolised the domain of conflict resolution.

Still, Godelman believes the incorporation of NGOs into fishing industry activities is “inevitable,” and cites “halting” steps forward, for example government invitations for Cedepesca to express its opinion on an issue, and the hiring of NGO workers to act as consultants for the state.

The increased role of NGOs has been seen at many United Nations conferences and forums in the 1990s and also at a broad range of official trade bloc meetings and international alliances seeking common policies in other areas.

At the end of November, NGO delegates from around the world, who descended on the US city of Seattle, Washington, as much media attention as represenmtatives of 135 nations who attended the abortibe ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation.

Ximena Abogabir, from Casa de la Paz in Chile, says the NGO phenomenon has gained momentum in her country in recent years because “people are losing faith that the government will solve their problems.”

She laments, however, that a “culture of cooperation” among the state, the private sector and NGOs has yet to materialise.

“They don’t understand the phenomenon, so they won’t open their checkbooks. On the contrary, they are suspicious of it, shutting their doors and writing it off,” Abogabir said. Notwithstanding, she agreed that the movement “is here to stay” because it is an intrinsic part of the globalisation process.

For the NGOs that specialise in such issues as poverty, social development, AIDS, women and children, economic globalisation also brings a closer connection with the world at large and facilitates the creation of networks among sectors affected by common problems.

The NGOs meet to trade different strategies for tackling problems, replicating and adapting them to their own situations.

Leilah Landim, of the Institute of Religious Studies of Brazil, says that NGOs are not growing solely out of economic crisis or the withdrawal of the state, but also as an offshoot of increased democratisation and control over the public and private sectors.

“With advisory bodies, budgetary participation, organisations that defend human rights and those of the consumer or the environment, society is getting more involved in issues (traditionally reserved for) the state, although it shouldn’t be treated as a substitution,” she says.

Landim, whose group is dedicated to problems related to violence and public safety, says the loss of prestige of traditional political parties makes NGOs seem the most attractive, flexible outlet for citizen activism on a variety of issues.

The call to respect human rights is echoed by Mabel Bianco, a health worker and president of the Foundation for Women’s Studies and Research of Argentina, who also belongs to a network of AIDS support groups.

That umbrella organisation enjoyed a major victory when it pooled its resources and went to court to appeal a decision by the Ministry of Health that denied essential medication to low-income AIDS victims, as required by law.

In both the first and second hearings, the court agreed with the NGOs and ordered the state to assume financial responsibility for the patients’ continued treatment.

“It was unprecedented, because we were not suing on our own behalf but for third parties. To advocate for the rights of others is the key role of NGOs,” says Bianco, adding that oversight of government agencies was another important function of the third sector.

Bianco believes that prior to the 1990s, such groups were widely identified with welfare and social assistance. “Now, the issue is not ‘to help’ the needy but to fight for their rights,” he said.

The NGO leaders consulted also agree that the phenomenon will continue to snow-ball in the 21st century – although less in quantity than quality.

In fact, universities in many countries are starting to offer post-graduate degrees and other training courses for people working with NGOs, to streamline their operations both in management of financial resources and achieving their primary objectives.

The risk of social fragmentation is considered by NGOs to be the price of success. “It’s a fragmentation that promotes specific identities and makes us protagonists in the development of our country,” declares Landim. (FIN/IPS/mv/dg-mj/dv/ks/mk/99)