There are numerous NGO's currently operating in Kenya, especially in the regions that are considered marginalized. West Pokot County is demarcated as an Arid & Semi Arid Land (ASAL) and has been tagged marginalized. It is with this interest that NGO's such as World Vision, Action Aid, RedCross, International Organization on Migration (IOM), Action Against Hunger (ACF) and Acted among others have pitched camp in this county to 'aid' much of the population which lives with earnings less than a dollar a day. These organizations work independently but also collaborate with other stakeholders such as the World Bank, United Nations, European Union and even the respective ministries in the government of Kenya.
My concern is that these NGO's present themselves with an array of programmes that basically suits the donors perception without having a customized approach to the situation on the ground. I want to be clear that i do not wish to antagonize the operations of the NGOs; i appreciate for the WASH, conflict resolution programs undertaken by these NGOs. From previous experience on the challenges of managing a communally-owned resource, i suggest the NGOs to embrace capacity building among the community members to avoid over reliance hence enable effective transition of projects from the donors through the NGO to the beneficiary community.
Being born and raised as a Pokot, i do not pledge being the know-it-all of the problems facing my tribesmen; but am using them as a point of reference of the sorry state of the outcomes of the heaven promised by survey objectives conducted by NGOs.
The disturbing question, having worked as a research assistant in previous SMART surveys in West Pokot, Thika and Gatundu north; is what happens to the research data?
If indeed as the respondents of the numerous piles of questionnaires that gather dust in NGOs offices are the direct beneficiary; what positive changes have these organizations made in the mapped out areas?
Furthermore, i believe in teaching a man to fish rather than giving him a fish. In my independent opinion, to defend the human rights or for any humanitarian organization that does not nurture the human resource in the community, then the institution has taken a nose dive into failure in its entirety!
In conclusion, what measures are undertaken to evaluate the performance of an organization in a community? Given that participation in surveys by respondents is entirely voluntary; are the interviewees entitled to a feedback? Finally, how often are financial audits established in these organization?
