Sri Lankan authorities are reluctant to permit non voluntary organizations (NGOs) to provide the full course of humanitarian assistance at grassroots level which if allowed would considerably ease the burden of the government, according Dr Vinya S. Ariyaratne, General Secretary, Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya (Society).
He made this comment while speaking at the Vanguard Management Services (Pvt) Ltd- organised CEO Forum in Colombo last week on the theme “Inspiring People and other Leadership Lessons from the Not for Profit Sector”.
Speaking to Business Times after that, Dr Ariyaratne said the annual programme budget for loans for micro enterprise at village level is Rs 400 million and the cumulative value of loans stands at Rs 5 billion. He said that there are more than 300,000 micro enterprises spread around the country operating in 3,000 villages and these enterprises have formed into independent societies and are self-sustained.
He said that one of the discouragements the authorities have posed is the taxing of NGOs.
When asked why certain voluntary organizations are asked to leave which are competent in social empowerment programmes to empower villages, Dr Ariyaratne said it is more foreign organisations than Sri Lankan units that are asked to move out. “Everything is to be state controlled. We do not agree to this concept, but we refrain from getting into controversies,” he said adding that empowerment is an essential social need.
Earlier in his presentation, Dr Ariyaratne urged the CEOs present and the corporate sector in general to look beyond their CSR prgrammes and to be involved in bigger community service ventures. He said that in this connection they could emulate some of the Indian companies like Tata adding that Tata has formed a foundation in research for social services and they are supporting charities in a very big way.
He said that the corporate sector has a greater responsibility to the society and the fact remains that they could afford.Citing ways in which non-profit organisations can raise their own cashflows to fund their own work, Dr Ariyaratne said in Thailand, the Population Foundation has begun running restaurants for profit to service their community service projects, such as the family planning project. In the United States, some of the charities are involved in business activities to support their community service programmes.
He said that there is extreme poverty prevalent in this country and some areas are totally under-developed. “If you look at the disparities, some of these areas are really un-developed, take for instance North and East”. He said “We have a role to play to get the system in place to serve these un-developed areas where the pace of development is very slow.” |
E-mail
