Civil Society Organisations Suffering around the World

At the start of the financial crisis, it was feared that development aid would substantially fall after having reached its highest level in years. However, the OECD recently issued a report that stated that 2008 and 2009 did not seen a substantial decrease in aid flows; indeed, there was a slight rise. It is currently anticipated that most donors will meet their 2010 targets. This is leading to a 'feel good' approach about aid - but it is very deceiving.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have financially suffered as a result of the financial, food and fuel crises at a time when the demand for their services is increasing. According to a recent study  commissioned by the United Nations Secretariat that surveyed 640 CSOs around the world, the majority of their respondees experienced budgetary constraints between 2008-2009, mostly as significant funding (especially from private foundations, financial houses and other corporate donors and individual contributions) was no longer available due to the credit crunch. 47 per cent of CSOs indicated that they struggle with the consequences of their budget cuts.

While some have become more efficient, 41 per cent report that their organizations have serious unsolved problems due to the crises. This is happening at the same time that 33 per cent of the responding CSOs expect a large increase in demand (from the populations they work with) over the next two years - especially for emergency relief, capacity building and long-term development programs. As a result, Especially in Europe and the United States, CSOs have increased their fundraising efforts. Those who have more diversified sources of funding, have a heavy and stable reliance upon volunteers and who are self-sustainable (possibly through combining non-profit with for-profit ventures) have been less vulnerable. Those who did not see a reduction in giving anticipate that there will be a reduction in 2010 or 2011.

That said, many of the CSOs are aware that even if they had the funds currently lacking, the scale of the challenge is beyond them; many (continue) to call upon states to take up their work via improving their social protection/social services (possibly through progressive taxes); if the states can not do this (perhaps because of corruption), CSOs encourage donor organization to give directly to them to ensure that services are delivered.