Time to look past the dependence on NGOs

NGOs still play a major role in fulfilling the country’s primary education targets. Photo: TBS

When Bangladesh emerged as a newly minted nation in 1971, economists and political analysts were ambivalent about the future of a country dwarfed by India on one side, and freshly severed from the 'better' Pakistan on the other. 

After all, out of the two Pakistan, West Pakistan's future seemed far brighter by every measurable metric. At the time of the liberation war, West Pakistan's economy was more robust, its GDP greater, and its literacy rates significantly higher.  

It is no surprise that Bangladesh was dubbed the 'bottomless basket' by former secretary of the United States, Henry Kissinger, a sieve through which foreign aid would inevitably be converted into lavish village homes, luxury cars, and other, creatively corrupt indulgences of self-serving public officials. 

Because poor states sometimes lack the state capacity to effectively utilise aid and channel resources to the most underserved, there is a chance that a percentage of aid will fall prey to gross misuse and mismanagement, and donors calculate the share of aid with this explicitly in mind. 

This is why NGOs are sometimes considered a more viable conduit of international aid than the state itself. Which promises greater transparency, efficacy, and accountability. It can strengthen the position of NGOs relative to the state, but this is not without consequence.  

Rather than fulfilling Kissinger's fatalistic prophecy, Bangladesh has emerged in the ensuing decades as a surprising, if uneven, success story. Bangladesh will graduate from LDC status by 2025, an achievement that comes with its own daunting set of obstacles. 

Buoyed by preferential trade agreements set to expire along with Bangladesh's LDC status, the country has been able to dominate global textiles export and make significant socio-economic developmental strides. 

But in order to successfully tackle the developmental challenges that lie ahead, Bangladesh needs an effective state apparatus to spearhead progress and navigate what is proving to be an increasingly volatile international arena.  

Given the ineffectiveness of the state in its early years, it makes sense that Bangladesh almost boasts the largest number of NGO's in the world, and some of the best NGO's in the world, at that. Indeed, the preponderance of NGO's is as much the symptom as it is the crutch of an ineffective state. Dr Mohammad  Yunus and his work in the Grameen Bank is an obvious example of how Bangladesh is a fertile ground for innovative developmental policy. 

Brac is a homegrown, world-renowned NGO providing services that run the gamut of basic social welfare, complex economic developmental programs, comprehensive poverty alleviation schemes, public health campaigns, etc. 

The vast vacuum left by the state has proved to be a breeding ground for NGOs capable of taking up the mantle, functioning as necessary stop-gap measures inserted haphazardly into the porous cavity of the struggling state apparatus. 

However, the assumption that state capacity will strengthen in tandem with economic development is not necessarily a self-fulfilling prophecy. NGOs can perversely weaken state capacity by being too successful at supplementing what should be state-led services. 

It is important to bear in mind that NGO's are not purely motivated by benign altruism, but are institutions themselves with vested interest in maintaining their own power and prominence. 

This is not to say that NGO's are 'bad' or malignant, purposefully derailing state capacity building to suit their own nefarious ends. It is to point out that, if Bangladesh wants to successfully reach a new tier of development, it needs to be self-reliant on development sectors. 

Because reliance on NGO's to spearhead key developmental goals is not conducive to building the state capacity required for a more prosperous Bangladesh. 

Nawshin Nawal. Sketch: TBS

The author is the Director of Crony Group, a garments manufacturer company. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.