NGOs in Bangladesh receive an average Taka 5,000 crore from donors every year, an executive of a leading NGO revealed, suggesting such organizations for innovation and bringing higher efficiency in their operations in order to accelerate SDG implementations.
“Bangladesh has so far 2,500 NGOs and they get an estimated Taka 5,000 crore as grants every year. Now NGOs have to be more careful for efficient uses of this money,” Executive Director of BRAC Dr Muhammad Musa said this recently while speaking at a workshop in the city.
Dr Musa said NGO operations were now spread over 490 upazilas across the country, with a vast network of over half a million workers involved in it. So, the NGOs have a big role to reduce inequality, one of key objectives of sustainable development goals (SDGS), from society over the next 15 years.
Co-hosted by NGO Affairs Bureau and BRAC, the workshop was addressed, among others, by Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam, Director General of NGO Affairs Bureau Mohammad Asadul Islam, Director General of Governance Innovation Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office Mohammad Abdul Halim, Joint Director of Bangladesh Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit Masud Rana and BRAC executives Professor Dr Abdul Bayes and Andrew Zenkins.
Shafiul Alam said despite sincere wishes, the government could hardly make quick decisions because of different complexities. He, however, acknowledged that NGOs have much advantage in taking quick decisions and implement their programnmes.
“So, it is imperative to have a strong collaboration between GO and NGOs,” he observed.
Asadul Islam said the conventional style of programme implementation by NGOs needs to be revisited, where innovation and creative ideas should take lead in their programmes to meaningfully contribute in the lives and livelihoods of disadvantaged people in society.
Professor Bayes said the country has been maintaining a sustained higher growth of GDP over years, but it could not reach the optimum level. Innovative ideas for social programmes and the export diversification can however break the status quo and yield better economic growth, he observed.
