Op-Ed Contributors

Give NGOs a chance to rebuild Qinghai

By Brandon B. Blackburn-Dwyer (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-28 07:49

If a friend offered to buy us dinner, we would say yes. If a neighbor offered to fix the front steps to our house, we would say yes. We say yes for the simple reason that it saves us money, allowing our limited resources to be used on other needs. But when a disaster strikes, as it did in Qinghai, the offer of help in rebuilding homes and communities is too often greeted by no.

The Qinghai earthquake has destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of houses and left more than 100,000 people homeless. The loss of life and property has been devastating, and the long rebuilding process can be equally devastating because of the huge cost involved.

Qinghai residents rely on agriculture but the province does not have the necessary economic power to rebuild the agricultural community. The economic power has to come from outside. It's true that the central government has provided every possible help to Qinghai, and fast. But the province needs more than that to recover.

The challenge now is to rebuild Qinghai into a better province. This will need huge amounts of money, master skills and gargantuan efforts. And for all this there can be no better ally than NGOs. Just like a person benefits from the economic input of a friend who pays for his dinner, countries, provinces and regions gain from NGOs' financial help. Besides, NGOs bring a variety of helpful tools to disaster zones.

First and most obvious, they spend money pooled from their own resources and/or collected from global donors. To ensure the flow of donations, NGOs bring consistent global focus, too.

Though unfortunate, it is true that we struggle to maintain our focus and all too often tend to move on to the next crisis. In the crucial battle of attention, NGOs are a potent ally in rebuilding efforts. Compared to a government that has many priorities, NGOs have much less to focus on and keep their donor base motivated for a longer time. Without extended attention, relief donations for most disaster-hit areas drop significantly after the first month, and in comparative terms to almost zero after six months.

NGOs bring crucial skills and experience, too. Governments obviously have highly dedicated teams of skilled workers but an NGO that spends all its time on a specific aspect of rebuilding has the advantage that very few multipurpose governments can match. Regional NGOs provide an increased level of localization to long-term relief efforts.

Furthermore, NGOs provide employment to the most needy - local people - something that is urgently needed in agriculture-reliant Qinghai. Local NGOs can work with their national or international counterparts to build the skills of Qinghai residents, an incredibly valuable aspect that could have long-term implications on the province's overall development and workforce.

NGOs that put in strong efforts should not be seen as competitors to governments. Rather, they should be considered strong allies. And if governments do so, they and the public could benefit hugely from NGOs' work.

Allowing NGO donations to flow from global donors would ease the economic burden of the government and thus limit the amount of nationwide tax money that needs to be re-directed toward rebuilding efforts. This benefits not just the region in crisis, but also the whole country by limiting the impact on government funds. Plus, the government and the people would benefit from better role identification.