What did I learn from the coalface?

In collaboration with the Bangladeshi CSOs, we all learned what are the essential elements of a civil society organisation, what standards we should expect from it, and how it should relate to foreign donors. There were, not surprisingly however, many kinds of CSOs. This period in Bangladesh coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and equally the collapse of the Communist Party of Bangladesh. The Peasant Front of the Communist Party had many similar objectives to the more radical CSOs in Bangladesh, but it believed in committed membership in the organisation, taking power in local government, and it forswore any assistance from outside, particularly foreign donors. Anguished reappraisals took place as the Peasant Front thought how to re-design and re-brand itself to deal with the same poverty and marginalisation that the CSOs addressed.

Similar reappraisals took place as CSOs battled with the ideas of business and capitalism, at one time an anathema but now gradually being accommodated. Money lending, for instance, once the despised tool of the capitalist class and the reason for downwards spirals of poverty, was now accommodated in microfinance. If the tool was used well, and with integrity, it could be the basis of an upwards spiral of self-help.

Donors in Bangladesh generally thought that they knew better what was good for the country and good for the CSOs, and behind their arguments they always had the power of their funds. I attended many valuable and informative discussions between CSOs and donors, but in too few cases did the arguments of the very competent CSOs prevail. Usually, donors wanted to support the government, claiming that the CSOs were not sustainable, instead of working to help their sustainability.

What happened to it all?

Bangladesh has developed substantially. Its scores on various development league tables are very impressive, and much of this has come from the work of CSOs, which have, in different ways, managed to sustain themselves.

CSOs/NGOs have lessened their dependence on foreign funding principally by working on microfinance, where services in lending allow them to attract a small return in interest which can fund the organisation’s existence. The bigger NGOs - BRAG, Grameen Bank³ — have grown exponentially and have brought their competence and professionalism to many Asian and African countries. The battles between government and NGOs/CSOs have continued without change, unfortunately. The PRIP Trust has continued to the present under the management of Aroma Dutta.

Government, CSOs and NGOs have learned more about disaster relief management and disaster preparedness. All the recent natural disasters have been much less destructive than previous ones because of such preparedness.

OCA — to find out what capacities NGOs and CSOs need and how to get them to them — was pioneered in Bangladesh and is now a standard tool for working with CSOs (see Figure 10.1). There is now a large number of training courses from INGOs and local NGOs to build capacity where a weakness has been identified. This is now standard for INGOs that specialise in CSO support, like Pact.

And, on a personal note, my wife was now working for UNICEF and my three children spoke Bengali to each other, and occasionally English to their parents. 1 eschewed four-wheel vehicles and rode a motorbike through the dense, dense traffic, and lived to tell the tale.

Organisational Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT)

How do you score your CSO against these model statements (1 is high, and 5 is low)

Figure 10.1 Extract from Organisational Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT)