 Assisting the government in providing an enabling environment for NGO development in China
Supporting NGO capacity building and networking
Increasing consultations and operational collaboration
NGOs in China are also called social organizations, nonprofit organizations or the third sector. The last 20 years have seen fast growth of the NGOs in China. According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are 133,000 officially-registered social organizations and 1,268 foundations by 2002. There are many more grassroots or community-based organizations which are not officially registered. The estimate for such kind of organizations is over one million. Many of them are making an important contribution to China's social and economic development by engaging in public benefit activities such as environment, health, education, scientific research, cultural services, poverty relief, legal aid, social welfare, and services to disadvantaged groups such as orphans, the elderly, and the disabled. They constitute an important part of an emerging civil society in China. Since 1995, the Bank has been making efforts to engage with NGOs and promote the development of NGOs in China in several ways, including: Back to top Assisting the government in providing an enabling environment for NGO development in China In FY01 the Bank provided an IDF grant to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the government agency in charge of NGO registration and regulation. The two-year grant project supported activities including a study tour by MoCA officials to the Philippines and Australia followed by a workshop to discuss the findings; a comparative study of NGO-related laws of China and other countries; a book of collection of experience and best practices of Chinese NGOs with 2,000 copies distributed to government agencies and NGOs; several NGO networking meetings and dialogues with MoCA officials; development of training materials and provision of training courses for NGO leaders and staff; and proposal of a NGO classification system more compatible with the international practice. In FY04, at the request of MoCA, the Bank has started a study on the tax laws, rules, procedures and policies for non-profit organizations (covering social organizations, foundations and private non-business institutions). The purpose is to analyze and assess the current tax laws and policies applicable to NPOs, provide international experience and best practices in the area, and develop recommendations for improvement of China's tax system to promote NGO development. Another initiative in FY04 is a translation project in collaboration with the Law School of Beijing University. The project selectively translates NGO-related laws of other countries and posts them on the Bank's China website and provides to MoCA with an aim to gradually build up an online library of NGO-related laws in Chinese for Chinese legislators, policymakers, academics and NGOs to use in the process of developing China's own legal framework for NGOs. Providing direct financial assistance to NGOs' own initiatives and projects through the Small Grants Program (SmGP). From FY99-04, the SmGP awarded grants to some 43 local NGO initiatives, with six to ten projects a year on average. SmGP in FY03, for example, supported activities such as a series of forums to discuss NPO-related laws among researchers, NGOs and government officials; a journalist salon on environmental issues every two months; a meeting of the disabled people with local government officials in a poor county in Guizhou; training workshops and cultural performance with an aim to spread basic legal knowledge to rural and ethnic minority women in Sichuan and Gansu; environmental awareness raising among school kids and farmers for the protection of a local river in Hubei; and mobilization of local Yi people (an ethnic minority) to participate in drug control and HIV/AIDS prevention in Sichuan. In FY04, the SmGP gave grants to NGO initiatives covering the disabled, ethnic minorities and women's rights, rural women development, participatory community development, HIV/AIDS, basic education and the environment. Back to top Supporting NGO capacity building and networking The Bank supported the startup of an NGO networking organization called the China NPO Network by funding their newsletters, workshops and training activities. A recent initiative is to help create a development knowledge center at the China NPO Network with an aim to disseminate development knowledge among the local NGOs. The Bank was a co-sponsor for a number of NGO conferences in China including the International Conference on NGO and Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2001, the Corporate and Civil Society Forum and the first provincial-level NGO Forum in Ningxia in 2003. Back to top Increasing consultations and operational collaboration NGOs were invited to participate in the consultations for the latest Country Assistance Strategy 2003-2005 and some sector strategies and studies. Bank-funded projects in China have had NGO involvement in the designing, preparation and implementation. A few examples would be: engagement of NGOs in AIDS prevention and control activities through information, education and communication under Health Nine Project; having NGO as a member of the Advisory Group for monitoring safeguard compliance under Chongqing Urban Environment Project; and involvement of local women's federations in several poverty projects to help mobilize and train local rural women and enable them to participate in project activities. Bank-funded irrigation projects helped create hundreds of farmers' water users associations to operate and maintain the lower levels of the irrigation systems by themselves. A JSDF grant supported the All-China Women's Federation's efforts to empower unemployed/laid-off women workers and migrants in the poor western provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi with access to knowledge, support and opportunity to overcome unemployment and poverty, through training, grant financing for small business startup and capacity building for program management, monitoring and evaluation. Updated December 2004 
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