Quote:
NGOs struggle to keep projects afloat as funds dry up
By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA
THE NATION
Published on June 15, 2009
The economic slowdown has badly hurt not just businesses but also non-governmental organisations, as donations dry up.
"The situation is grave. After sending out 20 letters to companies, asking for opportunities to present our projects, we get one to two responses. Worse, the one to two letters do not guarantee a chance that we can meet them to sell our ideas," Promboon Panitchpakdi, executive director of Raks Thai Foundation, a member of Care International, said last week.
The large NGO saw the Ford Foundation and the Danish government back out of two environmental projects.
After a while, it saw no interest among the private sector to join its Raks Thai Young Market Awards, where students are invited to propose their ideas on "social responsibility to the community".
A local company that had given it about Bt4 million to sponsor activities opted out this year due to the economic crisis.
"Most of our funds have come from abroad. Now that the economy has turned bad, many companies have expressed their intention to stop their contributions as soon as the existing agreement expires," he said.
The corporate-social-responsibility (CSR) trend was also going against NGOs, as many companies have decided to launch their own CSR programmes.
Though the foundation still receives stipends for health programmes like efforts to prevent the spread of Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, it hardly gets anything for environmental causes nowadays.
The situation at the large foundation, which employs 170 workers and runs on an annual budget of over Bt300 million, is not unique. Smaller organisations have suffered even more.
The Sikkha Asia Foundation's local branch has to adjust drastically because funds from Japan have been declining by 10 per cent per year over the past years.
"This year, the assistance from Sikkha Japan stands at just Bt7.5 million, which can cover only the pay for 30 workers and other expenses. This means we have to find some Bt8 million more for our activities by ourselves," branch manager Arunee Promma said.
"We usually turn to companies but this year all these companies face tough times as well. So, we have very limited funds now."
She said it was clear her foundation could not introduce any new projects this year.
"Now, we rarely dispatch our mobile libraries to communities because we can't afford the petrol," she said.
Suntaree Hattee Sengking, manager of the Network of Isaan Women, said the network has no money to pay its four staffers. Its financial situation had never been worse, even though it has been active for more than 10 years, she said.
Suntaree, the founder, has also served as the secretary-general of the NGO coordination committee for over three decades.
By her estimate, more than half of the country's 1,000 NGOs are now struggling financially. In six or 12 months, these NGOs will likely need a discussion as to whether their members will agree to serve without pay.
"The global economic climate is not good for Thai NGOs' work. We have usually relied a lot on foreign funds," she said.
But many countries did not allocate large funds to NGOs here anymore because their focus was now on needier countries.
"Today, Thailand is not seen as a poor country," she said.
NGOs could not count much on Thais either because people here had a habit of making merit to temples, not NGOs, she added.
