Much is expected of China’s new non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Bureaucratic and academic supporters of the Communist Party slogan ‘small government, big society’ are keen to promote NGOs as potential deliverers of social welfare. However, few studies have sought to determine whether current government policies enable NGOs to perform advocacy and deliver services effectively.

A paper from the London School of Economics looks at the ability of NGOs in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to advocate and deliver services on behalf of disabled people. As the level of social welfare provision remains very low and private philanthropy is still underdeveloped it may not be possible for NGOs to sustainably provide high quality social services.

Philanthropy in China is dominated by state-backed charities and fundraising drives. As the state mobilises private donations and organises semi-compulsory donations through work units, charitable resources available to NGOs are severely restricted. Corporations regard donations as a cheap form of advertising and prefer to give to state-backed charities which guarantee publicity in official media and the presence of high officials at presentation ceremonies. Most funds raised this way are used on projects identified and implemented by the state.

China’s disabled and vulnerable people are not receiving sufficient social welfare provision. Specialists and professionally trained personnel are in short supply. Only a tiny proportion of disabled children receive any financial support from the state. Special education and care services for disabled children cannot meet the demand.

As most NGOs wishing to assist disabled people lack stable funding from either government or private sources they are forced to charge for their services. Competition with newly-established for-profit organisations forces NGOs to lower the fees for their services. This leads to poor quality services and an inability to experiment with innovative service models.

Other constraints highlighted are:

• Because they cannot offer competitive salaries NGOs are not able to attract highly-trained or experienced people: most employ migrants from less developed rural areas or laid-off urban workers.
• NGOs compete for each other’s skilled staff and for clients, funding, media attention and favours from government officials.
• The process of applying for registration with the Civil Affairs Departments is fraught with hurdles: only one NGO of each kind is permitted to register at each administrative level – if a city already has a disabled people’s organisation another may not be registered.
• Registration of independent entities is made harder following the government crackdown on the Faun Gong meditation society: some would-be NGOs serving the disabled are left with no choice except to affiliate with existing approved organisations.
• NGOs choose to quietly cultivate good relationships with government officials in order to obtain favours rather than to work together with other NGOs to fight for universal rights.
• Many of those involved with NGOs are pessimistic about the prospects of influencing state policies, forging solidarity among NGOs or achieving acceptable levels of welfare support for vulnerable people in the near future.

The problems faced by NGOs have no quick or easy solutions. Capacity building for Chinese NGOs is high on the agenda of many donor agencies but the problems they face cannot be solved just by training in fund-raising or exhortations to co-operate with other NGOs. If NGOs are to assume more responsibility in China’s social welfare system their supporters should look beyond the NGOs themselves and direct effort at improving the wider context in which they work.

Source(s):
‘The limitations of NGOs: a preliminary study of non-governmental social welfare organisations in China’ by Yiyi Lu, CCS International Working Paper 13, Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics Full document.

Funded by: Ford Foundation

id21 Research Highlight: 21 January 2004

Further Information:
Yiyi Lu
Development Studies Institute
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7955 7205/7375
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7955 6039
Contact the contributor: Y.Lu@lse.ac.uk

Development Studies Institute, LSE, UK

Other related links:
'What does strengthening ngo capacity mean for civil society and governance?'

'Chinese NGO’s -- Carving a Niche Within Constraints'

Dealing with Advocacy - A Practical guide