ISLAMABAD, July 12: All information regarding NGOs’ domestic and foreign funding sources would be gathered, consolidated and sent to the Economic Affairs Division for use in development planning purposes.
According to the government’s legal, regulatory and fiscal reforms plan, the inflow of foreign funds could best be handled by an omnibus law on the subject, organized through the banking channels, which could address the entire range of security issues.
Under the package of reforms and accountability of civil society organizations drafted by the government, it is proposed that all citizen organizations may be obliged to report all funding sources after they have received the funds.
Firstly, the state needs to know the inflow of funds for security and development coordination reasons, and secondly, ex- post facto information obligations provides this information without being unduly restrictive.
The government has proposed setting up of the national commission for regulating NGOs and other non-profit organizations in Islamabad.
Sources said additional funds for the establishment of the commission would not be required since the recurring and non- recurring annual funds for the National Council for Social Welfare might be allocated for the purpose. A proposal is under consideration to wind up the National Council for Social Welfare and replace it with the national commission for non-profit organizations, they said.
The commission would regulate the revenue of the non-profit sector, which according to a study conducted by the Aga Khan Foundation, is estimated to be Rs16,400 million. Half of this, 50.24 per cent, is generated through fees and user charges, 37 per cent through private indigenous giving and 6.7 per cent through foreign sources, the study said.
Highlighting the high level of individual givings in the country, another report by the Initiative on Indigenous Philanthropy said in 1998 alone, Pakistanis gave an estimated Rs41 billion in cash and kind and another estimated Rs29 million in time.
Large development oriented and advocacy NGOs are heavily dependent on foreign funds, the Aga Khan Foundation report said.
A UNDP survey conducted in the early 1990s found that the majority of the NGOs had a small membership base with one third of them having less than 50 individual members.
The sources said once the Non-Profit Organization Governance and Support Ordinance was enforced, all organizations would have to register with the national commission in Islamabad and give periodic reports of their accounts and sources of funding, including foreign funding.
The flow of unrestricted funds into the country is a highly contentious issue in which the government, in general, wants rigorous regulation for legitimate security concerns while the NGOs want the liberal regime to continue.