‘A barrier to LDC graduation’

Bangladesh's smooth and sustainable graduation from the status of least developed country (LDC) may be affected by the fund crisis civil-society organisations (CSOs) are facing, said speakers at an event yesterday.

Funds are provided by both the government and international development partners.

A new study, titled "Role of CSOs and NGOs in LDC Graduation of Bangladesh:  Opportunities & Challenges", conducted by Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh showed that the disbursement of official development assistance (ODA), a type of financial aid, among Bangladeshi CSOs declined by 11.30 percent between 2015-2020.

It revealed the findings at an event at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

During this period, ODA disbursement among CSOs in developing nations increased by 16.06 percent, However, in LDCs, it fell marginally by 0.98 percent due to the overall decline of funding, the study said.

In Bangladesh, ODA disbursement for women's rights organisations increased more substantially than that in other LDCs.

In contrast, disbursements for democratic participation and civil society fell by 53.77 percent between 2015 and 2020.

Grants released by the NGO Affairs Bureau declined between 2016 fiscal (18 percent) and 2022 fiscal (8.2 percent), the study mentioned.

The survey based study was conducted on 109 CSOs and NGOs between September 25 and October 13 this year.

It found that 76 percent of the respondents witnessed a decrease in their annual budget of 2021 fiscal, when compared with the pre-pandemic period. Less than 14 percent experienced an increase, while for 10 percent, it remained the same.

Around 57.8 percent of the respondents saw a decrease in funds provided by international development partners, while 37.3 percent experienced declining funds from the government, and 33.7 percent witnessed a decrease in philanthropic funds.

Among the top three areas for which funds have decreased, 45.8 percent of funds decreased in poverty alleviation, 22.9 percent in quality education and 20.5 percent in gender equality.

Only 2 percent of the CSOs experienced no impacts of decreased funding, while some 65.10 percent had to cut down their workforce; 47 percent shut down their operations, and 42.20 percent had to reduce the salary of their workforce.

Only 20 percent of the surveyed NGOs faced no difficulty in obtaining funding from the government and its agencies.

Around 66.19 percent of CSOs had to go through a cumbersome process of attaining funds, while 39.4 percent had to face competition for limited funding from similar organisations, and 29.4 percent reported discriminations in funding.

While presenting the findings of the study, Debapriya Bhattacharya, convenor of Citizen's Platform for SDGs, said the government should prepare a comprehensive strategy document on the role of the civil society for smooth and sustainable LDC graduation.

Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, suggested reducing dependency on foreign funds for running CSOs.

While moderating the discussion, Shaheen Anam, core group member of Citizen's Platform, said fund inflow to small NGOs has been declining gradually.

Shaheen Anam, also executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), said MJF had to stop funding 120 small NGOs, while many small CSOs are about to shut down for lack of funding.

Nazneen Ahmed, country economist for Bangladesh, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), suggested a long transition policy for CSOs and NGOs up to 2041 to overcome the middle-income trap after LDC graduation in 2026.

Khushi Kabir, member of the board of trustees of Centre for Policy Dialogue; Badiul Alam Majumdar, member secretary to Shujan; Md Abdus Shahid, chairman of Committee on Estimates in Bangladesh Parliament; Nesar Ahmed, international trade expert of the finance ministry; Hosne Ara Hasi, chief executive of Jago Nari; and Md Shahid Uz Zaman, founder and executive director of Eco-Social Development Organisation, spoke at the event among others.