Despite various challenges, including the fund crisis, the private sector has played an active role in tackling the Corona crises, said Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman.
He made the views while speaking at a virtual press conference on the occasion of the release of a research report titled ‘The Role of Non-government Organisations in Response to Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Way Forward’.
He said, “Research shows that despite the challenges, including the funding crisis, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been able to play an active role in various humanitarian assistance programmes for the people while maintaining integrity in tackling the Corona crisis. Despite allegations of some irregularities, no significant information was found on the overall number of illegal financial transactions.”
According to the study, in addition to their Covid-19 funds and ongoing project funds, the NGOs have been involved in implementing various government programmes including relief and food assistance, cash disbursement, awareness activities, provision of healthcare and safety items, and burial from their general fund to address the Covid-19 crisis.
On the other hand, the local authorities had a negative impact on the list of beneficiaries in the distribution of relief even during the Covid pandemic. With a few exceptions, no irregularities were found in most of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the collection and expenditure of corona programmes, but there was a lack of self-motivated disclosure of information.
In the first three months (March 2020-May 2020), 77.5 percent of the companies participating in the
study started Covid-19 activities and in January 2020, a number of non-governmental organizations started preparation and awareness activities on their own initiative as part of preparations to combat coronavirus.
On the other hand, more than half of the organizations (53 percent) participating in the study faced various challenges in selecting beneficiaries. Some 18.3 percent of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been affected by political impediments and the influence of local authorities in implementing their activities.
The study was conducted from July 2020 to December 2021 by collecting data from direct and indirect sources using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
