The World Bank supports the use of NGOs as “sub-contractors” to deliver services to communities or certain categories of citizens (e.g., poor, parents). NGOs are increasingly seen as complements of, if not replacements for, local and central governments in services that depend on strong community knowledge, flexibility, and personal commitment. This is the case for programs that involve outreach to specific groups like the disabled, marginalized groups that suffer from prejudice or cultural or economic exclusion (e.g., Roma, women), and groups that are particularly difficult to integrate (street children, drug addicts).
Monitoring NGO service providers may require an institutional role for intended beneficiaries, local or even national government (e.g., the Albania Social Delivery project mentioned under 3.2). Lack of clear service quality standards frequently results in conflict between government agencies and sub-contracted NGOs. Moreover, contracting out services to NGOs may require policy change at the macro level or changes in the NGO legal framework. The Bank can play an important role in advising governments on establishing standards, designing contracts, and creating monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that allow for feedback from beneficiaries.
A common obstacle to NGO service delivery that the Bank needs to address frankly is government opposition. NGOs that are contracted to do such work necessarily replace government agencies, whose leaders are unlikely to be neutral about their loss of power. Moreover, NGOs are not elected, often have weak accountability mechanisms, and inconsistent capacities to carry out their new responsibilities. However, some governments have recognized that they are simply unprepared to deliver certain kinds of services. By cooperating closely with the World Bank and CSOs with special expertise and commitment, they can still claim significant credit in improving public welfare.
|
RSS