NGOization by Kapoor Dip Choudry Aziz

Author:Kapoor, Dip, Choudry, Aziz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zed Books
Published: 2013-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

NGOs and civil society in the Philippines today

Today, NGOs are part of a broader ‘civil society’ in the Philippines that also includes POs, cooperatives, church groups, professional or business-related associations, academe and assorted other non-state and non-business organizations. From a social change perspective, NGOs and POs are particularly significant not just because development-oriented NGOs generally express links with POs in pursuit of their goals but because together they comprise the largest portion of politically active groups amongst this so-called civil society.

The term ‘NGO’ is interpreted in many ways from the sweeping ‘non-governmental organization’, understood literally to include everything outside of the official government machinery, to the more restricted and legalistic ‘non-stock, non-profit corporations’, to the most limited notion of only referring to expressly social development-oriented NGOs. For consistency this chapter uses ‘NGOs’ to refer to non-governmental and non-profit organizations – regardless of funding source, ideology (or lack thereof), values and orientation – that provide development-related services to other groups, communities or individuals. This definition covers the likes of charity or welfare groups, social foundations set up by private business groups, as well as more ideologically grounded activist NGOs. All these NGOs are generally staffed by more or less full-time ‘professional’ NGO workers (as opposed to unpaid volunteer or part-time workers).

NGOs combine to form different kinds of alliances, coalitions and networks. The Caucus of Development NGOs (CODE-NGO) is the Philippines’ largest network of NGOs with a membership of some 2,000 and illustrates these diverse combinations. Among others, CODE-NGO includes six national networks and six regional networks. The six national networks each have distinct identities: rural development (PHILDHRRA – Philippines Partnership for the Development of Human Resource), urban development (PHILSSA – Philippines Support Services Agencies), corporate members (PBSP – Philippines Business for Social Progress), services for children and youth (NCSD – National Council for Social Development), cooperatives (NATCCO – National Confederation of Cooperatives in the Philippines) and an association of foundations (AF).3 The regional networks in turn respect­ively cover the country’s Bicol, Cordillera, Eastern Visayas, Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Mindanao regions, which are among the poorest areas in the country. There are also other permutations in NGO groupings such as the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG), a national network of NGOs and POs with programs on poverty alleviation, environmental protection, women, children, disaster risk reduction and aid effectiveness, and democratic governance.

POs, on the other hand, are membership-based organizations of citizens coming together to advance their common/collective interests and welfare and are sometimes referred to as grassroots organizations or community-based organizations. Politically active POs are generally organized along class/sectoral lines (e.g. peasant organizations, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, youth, overseas Filipino workers), gender (e.g., women), geographical proximity (e.g., village, province), or some permutation or combination of these. Among the largest and most active Filipino POs are the peasant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), fisherfolk Pamalakaya, worker Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), and women’s group GABRIELA which are all national formations with local chapters. But there is also Migrante International, which has country chapters of overseas Filipino workers around the world.

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