I ran aid programs for 25 years – getting my car fixed at an Islamabad market taught me why they don’t work
Donors mean well, but in Pakistan I saw funds poured into professional, unaccountable NGOs rather than authentic, grassroots civil society
TL;DR
- International aid often funds professional NGOs that are accountable to donors, not to the communities they are meant to serve.
- Genuine civil society organizations, like the shopkeepers' association observed, are organic, membership-based, and address local needs.
- The aid model created an ecosystem of NGOs that prioritized proposal writing and funding over deep commitment to causes or community accountability.
- Donors were often lenient with NGOs regarding accountability, unlike their scrutiny of government expenditures.
- A more effective approach would involve understanding existing civil society, developing mechanisms to reach less articulate organizations, and applying consistent accountability standards.
- Donor money can inadvertently change the nature of organizations, making them proposal-dependent and detached from their members.