Distinction between NGOs and GONGOs
Neichü Dz Angami
The word NGO, non governmental organization, when translated in Chinese means ‘going against the government’, said Mae, our fabulous translator, while helping me to understand the complexity of the role of or the lack of role of NGOs in HIV prevention and care in China. ‘So who are those sitting in the CCM (Country Coordinating Mechanism –a country level partnership of the Global Fund) representing Civil Society?’ I asked. ‘Oh, they are all GONGOs’, she coolly remarked. GONGO, as we know stands for ‘Government owned NGOs’. ‘Hmm…wow, yeah… I think I know that’, I nodded.
Recently I had the privilege of being in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, China for the Global Fund Board meeting as part of the civil society delegation. Few of us managed to arrive a week before the meeting and had a series of informal get-togethers and meetings with the ‘civil society’ representatives of Yunnan province. Most of the people we met were local partners of International NGOs and many of them were People Living with HIV and former Drug Users.
Do you have an organization? Can you form into a forum or network or registered NGOs? Are you registered? Can you independently apply for funds? – These were questions thrown at them by all of us and the answer was always the resounding ‘No’. ‘Nobody can be legally registered, only those formed by the Government themselves’, they clarified. How then will you access the 50 million US$ funding that is now approved by Global Fund Board for Round 6 of the fund applied by China which is specifically to strengthen civil society participation and mobilization in the fight against HIV, TB and Malaria?
With this concern in mind, the three delegations representing the Civil Society seats at the Global Fund board made a joint statement at the beginning of the meeting to re-iterate our support for the Chinese Civil Society and Chinese communities living with the diseases –
“……We expect that these grassroots organizations, registered or not, should have access to the funds so that the implementation efforts will reflect the desired goal of the proposed program.
We, the members of the three civil society delegations to the Fund feel responsible and accountable to ensure that our counterparts in China are also able to access and utilize the opportunities of being a stakeholder in the Global Fund.
We are committed to ensure that the voices and aspirations of all communities living with the diseases in China are heard and that their basic rights, particularly the right to information and services are properly secured.
…..We expect the Global Fund to take the lead in ensuring its commitment to strengthen capacity building and mobilization of Civil Society across the world, including China, so that our collective goal of containing and reversing the spread of HIV/TB/Malaria is achieved.
We, the three civil society delegations, will continue to proactively engage with Chinese civil society to ensure their key role in the response to the three diseases is recognized and we will work in close collaboration with all of you at the board until this is achieved”.
The three delegations representing the Civil Society at the Global fund are Developed country NGO, Developing Country NGO and Communities delegation (communities living with HIV, Tuberculosis and affected by Malaria).
Our statement was fully supported by the other delegations including the Donor delegation. This means that as a Global Community, everyone has a role to ensure that all countries, including China, who are receiving funding support from the Global Fund MUST commit whole-heartedly to the building of its Civil Society Movement.
In this regard, Peoples’ Republic of China would be a challenge for all. The recent battle of getting China agree to change its Travel Restriction Law against people living HIV is still fresh in our mind.
