NGOs tipped on how to hunt resources locally

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been urged to strategically position themselves and tap funding from local donors as opposed to only looking at Western countries.

Mr Hillary Emma Musoke, the private secretary to President Museveni in-charge of the Youth, Agriculture, Value Addition, Innovation, and Export Promotion, reasoned that there is money under the Corporate Social Responsibility of several big companies that NGOs can take advantage of locally.

“…also, we have our rich people, the big companies like Riham, Pepsi, Rwenzori, MTN and Airtel, they are all taking away our profits. How can they give you a budget on their Corporate Social Responsibility budget? You must be relevant and organised, and you must be seen as a joint partner who does not just register to get a certificate, get some money, and run away,” Mr Musoke said during a workshop on rethinking resource mobilisation for African NGOs in Kampala last Friday.

Mr Timothy Mugerwa, the chief consultant of Astute Strategies, urged NGOs to build their organisational human capital and infrastructural capacity.

“We are encouraging them (NGOs) to rethink the way they do business to move with the evolving climate to match the standard of the 21st century,” Mr Mugerwa said.

He added: “Many African organisations are missing out on the donors because they cannot manage and run the projects which is why 80 percent of the donor funding that comes to Africa does not go to local organisations. It is instead injected into foreign organisations so that means donors have trust issues with African organisations.”

Mr Mugerwa further said as Astute Strategies, they are supporting NGOs to be professional while they do their work.

“…this is not a problem with Ugandan NGOs [alone] but African NGOs [as well]. They are struggling with funding, they don’t know what to write, they don’t know how to do financial reporting and end-of-year reports. It shows that we are incompetent, which is why we are saying come to the experts and get trained in every area so that you can be professional and attract serious partners,” he said

Ms Priscilla Kisakye Mugume, a panelist, encouraged NGOs to partner with like-minded organisations such that they don’t duplicate the services they offer.
She also urged NGO heads to adhere to the rules of their donors.

“I almost lost my job while I worked with an NGO located in Lira District when a male teacher escorted female children to Kampala and yet the policy of the donors was never to allow a male teacher to escort females anywhere. To make matters worse, one of the children who was visually impaired got lost in the city,” Ms Mugume said.

The urge for NGOs to tap into local donors comes at a time when the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), one of the biggest financiers of the NGO work, closed operations about two years ago.

DGF provided financial and technical support to partners that strengthen democracy, human rights, justice, and accountability.

Background
In February 2021, President Museveni suspended the activities of Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) accusing it of operating a huge fund without proper government oversight.

The government also in 2021 through the National Bureau for NGO-Board, cracked a whip on at least 54 NGOs by suspending their operations.

The NGO board cited, among others, expired permits and failure to file annual returns as some of the reasons for stopping NGO operations.