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Source: Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia The history of Non Governmental Organisations dates back for not more than four decades in Ethiopia. They were mainly engaged and their primary area of focus was in relief works and service delivery. It is only in the last 10 years or so that Organisations started to actively work on rights issues. Despite the number of limitations and some witnessed malpractices, NGO’s have been doing a commendable work in Ethiopia over the years. Restricted during the Derg regime, there were only few of them allowed to operate under tight government control. Freedom of association was de facto forbidden to independent professional associations, trade unions, the media, academia, the private business sector, and the like as they might be threats to authoritative ruling system. After the fall of the regime however, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia came into being and created conducive working environment for NGOs/CSOs to work under, adopting a constitution which allows for the freedom of association and other related rights after having ratified different international instruments which comprised of different civil, economic, political and cultural rights. As stated above the history of CSOs in Ethiopia began by providing relief services that lasted for a long time following the famine which occurred within the territory of Ethiopia. This paved the ground for CSOs, assisted by international donors, to operate and help victims to survive the situation. However these groups were considered to impose high Western values, which was the reason for them to be under close scrutiny. With an improvement in the situation after famine, the focus of NGOs shifted toward rehabilitating people in need. Although a large majority of the NGO sector undertakes development programs today, because of recurring drought in certain areas of the country there are NGOs which undertake relief activity along side their development programs. A further improvement in their development work is the establishment of few advocacy NGOs. Today NGOs advocate on different policy issues that have implication on their work and/beneficiaries. Most NGOs in Ethiopia are engaged in advocacy, civic education, gender, health and family planning and Human Rights issues. According to data provided by the Ministry of Justice, around 3,737 NGOs and CSOs operated within Ethiopia in the year 2006 which size is expected to have increased within the three years period until 2009. These Organisations have contributed towards bringing positive impact in solving economic problems in collaboration with the people, the government and development partners and play greater roles in addressing poverty alleviation through myriad programs and activities. Recently, a Charities and Societies Law has been adopted by the government of Ethiopia which is considered to narrow down the operation space and creates a disabling environment. The law was enacted with the intention to ensure greater openness and financial integrity on the part of Civil Society Organisations as there was no previous comprehensive law governing the operation of the same. Instead this law is believed to place severe restrictions on all Human Rights and governance related works. The law considers any civil society group that receives more than 10 percent of its funding from abroad to be foreign. These groups are also not allowed from partaking in any kind of activity related with human rights democracy or governance issues but other developmental activities. The idea that civil society Organisations being quiet different from political parties and their not aiming for state power through advocacy is shared among the local or international community. Rather they play an immensely important role in supporting the government through its activities to reach its developmental goal regarding the areas where the government falls short. Such kind of law is believed to narrow down democracy space and political participation even if it is repeatedly argued on the government’s side that political participation remains untouched for as long as the Organisations stay as locals. On the other hand, it is alleged that some local and international Organisations have been identified to have diverted from their very objective going through social, political and ethnic lines. The Ethiopian government has regularly accused both domestic and foreign non-governmental Organisations of pursuing purposes which included throwing off acts of human rights-related protest and criticisms. In addition, some have been blamed for supporting anti government agendas. It is further assumed that these Organisations are loose and highly depend on foreign sources for whatever activity they are established for. This is one of the reasons for the government’s move on restricting national NGOs from seeking assistance from foreign sources to work on right related programs and democracy and governance issues, having the strong belief that Ethiopia is self sufficient in taking over matters on the aforementioned department. The rest of the work on welfare and economic development activities could be carried out through outside country funding according to the government’s stance. It is in the majority NGOs interest, to maintain the very objective they have been established for as they have put a lot of effort to reach their goals. Transformation to other purpose takes a great deal of effort and years of struggle for those target Organisations to be able create the sense of trust among the beneficiaries. The tradition of significant domestic support for the work of NGOs lacks in Ethiopia. The government itself sends a mixed signal towards NGOs which facts have led the majority of them to be partially or totally dependent on the financial assistance of donors from abroad. It will then be a huge challenge to come up with an amount of money raised locally to support the initiatives of the non governmental Organisations which will continue to take up on projects as locals. It is going to be a long and rough way ahead to come up with a stable ground and continue with what has been commenced. Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia is an indigenous non profit, non partisan and a non governmental Organisation established in 2003. It is within its objective to strive toward the attainment of social justice in Ethiopia through its endeavors for the fulfillment of public interest and respect for human rights. This Organisation is to be mentioned as one which has taken upon a number of activities to ensure democracy, rule of law and good governance have place in Ethiopia. Having worked on rights, democracy and governance concerns puts it among those that will be affected by the new law. Before the enactment of the law, there have been several efforts made for the amendment of the law thereby to make the law less restrictive on the works of NGOs. This was done through the collaboration of different target Organisations by showing the different positive impacts NGOs have been able to bring about to the beneficiaries, through different consultative fora organized with the government. The cooperation, unfortunately, could not get favorable changes on the core issues of concern which means Organisations should not cease from coming together to create means to sustain their already existing program through their continued effort of supporting one another. In the mean time they should persist on urging the government to make the law favorable and create a conducive environment for them to operate under. |
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