Dying Aid

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So we move to my own organisation, UYWEFA, which was set up by a loose collection of people after an HIV/AIDS counselling course. Some of this original group have moved on; of those remaining many have spurts of enthusiasm for projects or activities but it is only really the director, Ronald, who devotes himself to the organisation on a regular basis. One of the most repeated words I have heard since I have been here has been ‘mobilising’ but the hardest part for UYWEFA is to mobilise volunteers to run any activity that is planned.

The frustration is that there are plenty of funding streams out there for ‘grassroots’ organisations but the paradox is that most ‘grassroots’ organisations, set up and run by people that come from the community, do not have the capacity to apply for and manage funds. If the objective is to concentrate on organisations run by ordinary people within the most deprived communities then people running these organisations will not be educated. Consequently few organisations contain any individuals with the management and organisational development skills necessary to establish an effective charity.

Unless funding organisations give their time to offer smaller organisations training and development then grassroots funding is wasted. Even with the best will in the world if UYWEFA received a significant amount of funding then it would be wasted, not through corruption but because in all honesty they do not have the skills and capacity to use it effectively. By far the most effective work I have done since I have been here has been in meeting with Ronald and the board of directors and asking questions about the organisations (what, why, who, where, how and when), an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses and pedantic nagging about recording every financial transaction.

Greater regulation in the registration of charities would also help. At present, anyone can copy and paste a constitution can register in Uganda. Within my own organisation long documents copied from a collection of different sources and make no semantic sense have been produced (we even had a workplace policy – with no members of staff!). Setting up activity timetables, volunteer rotas and discussions on the goals of the organisations had very little impact. It took me months to realise that the organisation really needed to start from scratch.

When discussing ‘what’ UYWEFA wanted to achieve and ‘who’ they wanted to help we ended up with lists that took up most of a side of A4. After pointing out that, at best, UYWEFA had two staff that worked afternoons, there was a realisation of the limitations of what the organisation could achieve – a major breakthrough. Gradually, I am beginning to understand the focus of the organisation and/or it is starting to get some. The greatest challenge for many in my position is realising how little organisation is often in a ‘grassroots’ organisation.

This is perhaps the most difficult thing for an international volunteer as you don’t want to dictate what an organisation is about or what it does. Most, myself included, want to get involved in the programmes and support ‘real’ community work where you are directly supporting the people that it need it. Consequently you can expend a lot of effort in trying to get activities running and mobilising the community without realising that there is no organisational structure to sustain it. The frustration is perhaps why many decide to create their own charities, which in turn causes its own problems in terms of local people taking ownership of their development.

Hence, last month I moved on to a much larger organisation, Restless Development. At times with UYWEFA it felt like I was on the verge of becoming UYWEFA's figurehead such was the expecation on me to represent the organisation at partnership meetings, coordinate programmes and, most significantly fund the programme. The more I withdrew the more effective I realised I was becoming as the people realised they would have to take responsibility themselves, and significantly had some impetus behind them.

I now aim to visit once per month to check their accounts and monitoring. I chat to Ronald on the phone quite often to offer some advice and help with any fundraising but mainly for reassurance. I fear that the programme will fall apart at some point, but then I predicted that it would have done at a much earlier stage. It seems an international presence is not quite as necessary as everyone thinks it is.

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Comments

[John]

Interesting
Hey man - i've been following your blogs for some time and just wanted to say HI. This is really interesting. And is forcing me to reconsider my knee jerk reaction that "grassroots" is always better. Good food for thought. Thanks for sharing.