NGOs - Do they help?

A note from the editor

Dinyar Godrej

‘You won’t forget all the good work, will you?’

It’s a nightmare when articles get double-parked. Let me explain.

When Ruby Diamonde’s Letter from Bangui came in for this month’s edition, it spoke movingly of a forest haven for animals in a country sadly better known these days for human strife.

If Ruby had caught a glimpse of Eden, Sophie Pritchard’s piece on the excesses of some conservation NGOs offered up hell. The same nature reserve, with the same NGO partner (WWF), but across the border in neighbouring Cameroon, was a site of evictions and human rights abuses. What to make of it?

Not much except to accept that the reality in Central African Republic may be somewhat different from that in Cameroon.

At another point in the preparation of this magazine, a colleague asked: ‘You won’t forget all the good work NGOs do too, now, will you?’ I don’t think that was ever in doubt – it figures in some form in almost every edition of New Internationalist.

But with NGOs numbering in the millions globally and the largest ones with budgets that match transnational corporations, it is also worth inspecting the charge-sheet against them. NGOs inspire public trust; we express solidarity by giving to them. Even their most trenchant critics are quick to add, ‘I don’t mean all NGOs...’ Maybe this edition will help you decide how to find ones you can support.

A further provocation this month comes from Jeremy Seabrook’s searching essay on the roots of radicalization. It’s an analysis that’s largely missing among the friction the subject generates.

And Roxana Olivera’s piece from Peru takes us back to the forest, where heroic defenders of nature and the public interest have put their lives on the line.

Dinyar Godrej for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Not today: a girl walks past a school in Kibera, a nairobi slum without running water or electricity, where 800 aid organizations operate. Noor Khamis / Reuters

Not today: a girl walks past a school in Kibera, a nairobi slum without running water or electricity, where 800 aid organizations operate.

Noor Khamis / Reuters

NGOs - do they help?

There are more NGOs today than ever; some are bigger than ever. Yet, discovers Dinyar Godrej, questions persist about their role.

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Features

Photo: Johner Images/Alamy

The company they keep

Big NGOs and big corporations – Ian Brown finds they are getting a bit too close.

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Aiding and abetting

Aiding and abetting

Cartoonist Polyp’s satirical take on field work.

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Street artist bustart visualizes some of WWF's corporate connections (as revealed by the Pandaleaks website) on a shutter in Amsterdam. The title is a reference to the WWF's Living Planet report.Photo: Bustart / art-of-bust.com

Evicted by charity

The green imperialism of some conservation charities, by Sophie Pritchard.

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An anti-nuclear demonstration under way in Mumbai. The government considers such movements ‘anti- development’.Photo: Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Contested territory

Accused by the government of stalling development and by critics on the Left of not being radical enough, NGOs in India are facing many challenges. Dionne Bunsha reports.

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What is the right response to the Ebola crisis?

What is the right response to the Ebola crisis?

MSF respond to charges against the way they operate in Sierra Leone.

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The distress dealers: an Action Against Hunger advert.The distress dealers: (left) Save the Children, (centre) ActionAid, (right) Action Against hunger.

The unwelcome return of development pornography

John Hilary on a degrading spectacle that keeps coming back.

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Photo: Roxana Olivera

‘Is this your fingerprint? Do you recognize it?’

Strange goings-on in the trial of indigenous protesters accused of killing police in Bagua. Roxana Olivera reports from the Peruvian Amazon.

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Opinion


Agenda

TV's transgender trendsetter

Padmini Prakash makes history in India.

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Organized acts of kindness

Organized acts of kindness

US debts wiped clean through crowdfunding.

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Russia's unseen casualties

Russia's unseen casualties

Those living with HIV in the Ukraine face an uncertain future following cuts to support services, reports Gabriella Jozwiak.

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35 years ago...

35 years ago...

Chris Brazier looks back at an issue of New Internationalist from 1979 on foreign aid.

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Tarpaulin revolution

Tarpaulin revolution

In London's Parliament Square, protesters provide a visible alternative to the politics of vested interest. Hannah Martin reports.

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Simon Wedege under a CC licence

Re-introducing... Evo Morales

Richard Swift welcomes the Bolivian president's third term in office.

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Photo: Robin Bahhi

Art and soul

Syrian artists in exile feel free to express themselves and their politics, discovers Lydia James.

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Women protected

Women protected

A new law in Egypt is a positive step for women, but not the end of the struggle, says Chalaine Chang.

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Mine shafted

Mine shafted

Jess Worth on indigenous Canadians' fight against a mine.

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Elusive justice after Bhopal

Elusive justice after Bhopal

Thirty years after the disaster, the campaign for justice continues.

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Reasons to be cheerful

Reasons to be cheerful

Good news from around the world this month.

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Regulars

Letters

Praise, blame and all points in between? Your feedback published in the December 2014 magazine.

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Illustration: Sarah John

Letter from Bangui: Tears in the forest

Ruby Diamonde escapes the city and delights in the beauty of the rainforest.

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Country profile: Chad

Facts, figures and photos from Chad.

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Open Window: Unprotected

Open Window: Unprotected

Brandan Reynolds from South Africa with ‘Unprotected’.

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Jeremy Seabrook.

Myths of radicalization

Jeremy Seabrook considers the myths of radicalization.

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Photo by Jean-Pierre Kepseu

Southern Exposure: Cameroon

Pondering the future in Cameroon, by photographer Jean-Pierre Kepseu.

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Photo by Lucy Perry

Making Waves: Catherine Hamlin

Sofi Lundin meets Catherine Hamlin, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and doctor extraordinaire.

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And finally... Elif Shafak

Best-selling author Elif Shafak on Twitter, Turkey and making peace with her fears.

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Film, Book & Music Reviews

Mixed media: Music

Mixed media: Music

Silk & Stone by Amira Medunjanin; Lament by Einstürzende Neubauten.

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Mixed media: Film

Mixed media: Film

Citizenfour directed by Laura Poitras; We Are The Giant directed by Greg Barker; Winter Sleep directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

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Mixed media: Books

Mixed media: Books

The Drum Tower by Farnoosh Moshiri; The Final Charge by Dawood Ali McCallum; The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck; They Can’t Represent Us! by Marina Sitrin and Dario Azzellini.

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