Status of Non governmental Organisations in the Maldives

Transcription

1 Status of Non governmental Organisations in the Maldives Paper presented to the Seminar on Capacity building of Non governmental Organisations, 29th October 19th November 2008, held in Fouzhou, China Prepared by: Ahemd Shareef Nafees and Ishaaq Ahmed 11/8/2008

2 Contents Purpose... 2 Expectations... 2 Introduction... 2 Nature of non governmental organisations... 3 Government Policy on Civil Society Sector (including NGOs)... 3 Present Status of NGOs... 4 Recent Developments... 4 Country Context (Background Information)... 5 Location... 5 Geography... 5 Demography: population distribution... 6 Economy... 6 Governance... 7 Proposed reforms on local governance

3 Purpose This aims of this paper are to: a. Understand status of civil society sector b. Understand issues faced by NGOs c. Assess needs for development of NGOs d. To provide and introduction to the national context Expectations Our expectations from the seminar on Capacity Building of NGOs are: a. Understand status of NGOs in other countries b. Explore opportunities for NGOs development in the Maldives linkages for technical assistance arrangements and assistance for training and development Arrangements for financial assistance on with international institutions Introduction The Maldives faces several challenges to its development arising from: Nature of Population concentration and distribution (its population distributed over 194 island communities. Economies of scale :High cost of service provision Limited skills and capacity Narrow resource base: economy Many of the 194 island communities in this nation were more self-reliant years ago. However, modernization in the transport sector and changes in the government policies have resulted in the communities becoming more dependent on government for their development. 2

4 There were no organizations such as NGOs working for socio-economic development, in the past. Development activities were then undertaken under the management of local administration, involving all community members. They would plan activities and even the fishermen will stay on the island to carry out activities. Communities used to contribute with their active involvement by providing free labour and also cash contributions in undertaking development activities at the grassroot level. People volunteered. However, this level of volunteerism and community mobilization is no longer a reality in many of the communities. Nature of non governmental organisations A comprehensive study on the status of the civil society sector (NGOs) has yet to been undertaken in the country. There is no clear catergorization of NGOs. Most non-governmental organizations in the Maldives can be identified as those mainly involved in the following areas: 1. Recreation and sports (sports clubs and associations) 2. Social development/community development 3. governance and human rights improvement 4. promoting of health awareness and welfare 5. environment protection and awareness promotion Statistics show that there are 996 registered organizations in the country of which 790 are organizations mainly involved in sports and recreation. Of the total registered organizations 377 have their contact address in the capital and 619 based in the communities. 206 are involved in areas other than sports and recreation In addition there are also about 190 community level women s committees supported by the government. At the national level there are few NGOs active in the areas of health, environment, governance and community development. They include: 1. Society for Health Education established in 1988 and active in health awareness and education 2. Care Society established in working with children with special needs, rehabilitation, education and community development 3. Blue Peace established in 1989 and involved in awareness raising on environment protection. In addition, some organizations were recently formed to promote human rights and good governance. Government Policy on Civil Society Sector (including NGOs) Encourage civil society growth is a target in the government s reform agenda All organizations including NGOs are registered at national level New constitutional reforms conducive to the development of NGO sector. New law on civil society organizations (2003) but limited. Encouraged formation of new type of NGOs on human rights and good governance. 3

5 Need specific government support for NGO development but government finance limited. Now branches of foreign NGOs can be registered in Maldives Time taken to register new organizations is shorter now after introduction of the law Need to further government policies for development of civil society sector. New governance reforms supportive of the formation and development of NGOs Present Status of NGOs Growth of NGOs is limited but this may change soon Volunteerism not growing- but in the past had a culture of mutual support among communities. At present NGOs are underdeveloped: Not very well established Lack skills, assets/resources and finance Limited role in social development Difficult to sustain NGOs in the rural areas- volunteers, movement of trained people, lack of resources and lack of support. Recent Developments Post 2004-tsunami period lead to: revival and growth of NGOs and their activities in social development and livelihood promotion. However, increase in staff level, funds and assets gained after tsunami may not be sustainable. Arrival of International NGOs and linkages with national NGOs. In 1980s and 90s presence of limited number of such NGOs but later they left. Formation of national red crescent society Recently an umbrella NGO organisation called Maldives NGO Federation was formed. However, even it lacked much needed support to establish and support rural NGOs. 4

6 Country Context (Background Information) Location Geography A nation of about 1190 islands 26 natural atolls (groups of islands) 195 inhabited islands 88 resort-hotel islands 25 industrial islands Area: 115,300 sq km (including sea) 5

7 Male Capital of the Maldives Demography: population distribution Total national Population: 309,575 Pop. of the capital: over 100, ,000 distributed in 194 inhabited islands 42% of the population under the age of 16 yrs Economy GDP: US$ 926 million. GDP growth rate (2005 est.): -5.5% Per capita GDP: US$ 2,992 Percentages of GDP(2003): primary: 9.7 secondary: 15.6 Tertiary: 78.6 Trade: Exports--US$ 162 million Imports--US$ 655 million 6

8 Governance Government type: Republic. New Constitution: September 2008 Branches: Executive-president, cabinet. Legislative--unicameral Majlis (parliament). Judicial Supreme Court, High Court, Civil Court, Criminal Court, Family and Juvenile Court, and 204 general courts. Administrative subdivisions: 20 atolls and capital city. Political parties: recently established Suffrage: Universal at age 18. Unitary system of government Central authorities (headed by cabinet ministers) Atoll Offices (headed by appointed Atoll Chiefs) and atoll level service facilities Island Offices (headed by Island Chiefs) and island level service facilities New local governance setup to be established in mid 2009 (new constitution) Implications of Proposed local governance reforms Greater role for NGOs in community development Possible formalisation of NGO role in development programmes Proposed reforms on local governance Local Governance Act Establishment of elected local councils Establishment of an institute to support the councils Establishment of a national body to represent the local councils Decentralisation of service provision Fiscal decentraisation and capacity building Implications of Proposed local governance reforms: greater role for NGOs 7