Opinion

Letter from China

Governance | 1 Nov 2006

This letter comes from Dorit Lehrack, international senior advisor to CANGO, the China Association for NGO cooperation, www.cango.org   

Dear readers,

China with its 1.3 billion people is seen as a colossus state, managed by the Communist Party with little or no influence of ordinary citizens. This is not true anymore. Chinese people enjoy the service of many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) voluntary, social, advocacy and environmental protection. Most of them grassroot organisations, founded by engaged individuals in a bottom-up process. Numbers differ between 200,000 and two million, depending on different ways to count them.

There is a growing understanding that China cannot yet develop sustainability without a strong engagement of its citizens. Although working conditions for NGOs are still difficult. Only a few NGOs can manage to register, thus most are in a limbo, somewhere between being illegal or legal, depending on the mood of the officials. A second problem is the general lack of a culture of individual engagement. Many Chinese believe that the state is responsible for their wellbeing. NGOs are sometimes seen as putting the money in their pockets as everyone assumes corruption. This is why good governance is especially important and organisations such as CANGO are leading the way.

1. The first question is: what do we mean when we talk about good governance? To the Chinese, governance means a holistic concept of governing the state, its institutions and organisations in a way that benefits the development of a harmonious society. Good governance in China means no corruption, trustworthy, transparency, openness.
2. Key elements of governance are therefore transparency of the use of donations and other resources; accountability to all stakeholders, including the general public; effectiveness in how to make best out of the resources given to a NGO, and responsiveness in meeting the needs of their beneficiaries in the best way. Transparency and legitimacy in decision-making plays an increasing role. So the times where the founder would This article was commissioned through the Governance Hub following the CIVICUS conference earlier this year. www.governancehub.org.uk treat a couple of volunteers like assistants and did not engage them and other stakeholders in decision-making are almost gone. Effective boards and constitutions are seen as essential.
3. However, as China is a state in transition, there are many challenges NGOs and their supervising bodies have to tackle. The biggest challenge is to strengthen the credibility and effectiveness of the third sector. This is promoted by the already more developed NGOs and by authorities (for example the Ministry of Civil Affairs). Thus, the Ministry and many NGOs and foundations from abroad put a great deal of effort into training Chinese NGOs to manage and govern well.
4. Another problem is the lack of a properly functioning regulator. Effective control mechanisms through membership or the media are also missing. The so-called supervision unit, which is required for formal registration, is also restricted in its power and unregistered NGOs do not have any kind of regulator. Even though most NGOs are honest, credible and passionate in their work, the reputation of the sector would definitely be strengthened by introducing a legal framework to regulate NGOs.
5. What do stakeholders do to tackle the problems? CANGO has introduced a four-year training programme focusing on capacity building of Chinese grassroot NGOs. Good governance is like the red thread leading through the whole programme. The third sector organisations led by CANGO regularly lobby state authorities to give more freedom to NGOs and at the same time create a strong regulatory framework.
6. Information exchange and skill sharing with UK charities is very helpful in making charity workers understand that the culture of social checks and balances is extremely important, because it is essential for the development of a highly effective and efficient third sector.

Dorit Lehrack is the international senior advisor at the China Association for NGO Coorperation (CANGO)

Tweet