Where's that smell coming from?

Most people have probably heard some of the negative things said about NGOs, which can range from the work they're doing through to the way that they run their organisation. I've recently come across one of those organisations - unfortunately due to a couple of friends of mine working with them - that give the rest a bad name. And boy, do they stink of corruption and ineptitude (you take your pick in which order).

So let's see, where do I start?

The projects they work on are of around the same scale as ours, yet they have about 10 times the administration staff as us. Of course, I use the term "staff" very loosely, as most are "volunteers" who actually seem to do very little from all accounts. Actually, worse than that, they actually seem to actively disrupt those who do try to work.

And the term "volunteer" over here has a slightly different meaning to what we are used to. They are actually getting paid, admittedly not as much as if they were employed, but still funds are going to them that could be used elsewhere.

One of my friends, a foreign volunteer sent here by VSO as a business advisor, worked out that around 70% of the organisation's finances was going to administration. Considering that the target for any NGO should be around 15%, that is quite an amount. Of course, that estimate is based on what little that can be discerned from what few records are kept. Did I say "few" I mean, none. The estimate is based on what he has elicited as the costs of all outgoings. He can't say for certain if that is all the money that is going out of the organisation, since there are no account records to confirm this.

A large chunk of this estimate goes to finance a fairly large office in downtown Nairobi, an office that is only used for the occasional meeting, and which is populated predominantly by people sitting on computers and playing solitaire for most of the day. They also have an office in Thika, which is the one that would make sense since their work is in the area. However that too is populated by a half dozen people who don't do anything most of the time, and when they do go out to network and speak with potential partners/donors they do so en mass with at last four of them together at a time.

Apparently if they closed the Nairobi office the extra funds available would cover the running costs of their main project, a children's home.

Then let's look at the work they're doing...

The sad thing is that some of the work they do is actually helping some people. As mentioned, they have a children's home with around 20 kids, which is providing them with a positive outcome. Of course, I am not aware of how many of these kids are actually orphans with absolutely no family, and how many of them perhaps could be going back to family. But at least the kids are not being harmed.

They have also done some useful work in the area of health education within the local community.

However, the plans they have in store for their new orphanage is quite... um... interesting, to say the least.

They have a small parcel of land they are planning to build a larger facility on. The two friends of mine have been working on these plans, and putting together a proposal to raise the necessary finances and materials. However a week or so ago they found out that - without their knowledge, as project managers - that the plans had changed somewhat. And boy, are they some plans!

The original plans called for a dormitory for around 40 children, a shower block, a small dining hall and kitchen, and outdoor areas used for recreational space and a number of small micro-enterprises (eg. chicken farming, maize growing...etc) in order to become as self-sustainable as possible. These plans, apparently (having not seen the land myself), are about right for the size of the land and the possible funding available to the organisation.

My two friends were called into a meeting recently where they discovered that new plans had been drawn up. These new plans included:

• Four large dormitories holding 200 children in each.


• An extremely large dining hall (either to feed to 400 children staying there, or a small army from the camp nearby).


• Two schools (even though there are schools nearby).


• A 400 bed maternity hospital, costing patients 3000 Kenyan Shillings (Ksh) a night (in a rural area where the average wage is less than 100 Ksh a day).


• A dispensary.


• An administration block.


• A community centre.


• A full size basketball court.


• A handball court.


• And, to cap it all off, an Olympic-size swimming pool!

Perhaps you might imagine the response of my two friends upon learning of the new, Olympic village style plans.

The organisation's business manager - not the VSO volunteer - was asked how someone from the area would be able to afford the 3,000 Ksh a night. He replied that a woman is pregnant for nine months, so they can save up. Seriously.

So, how have they funded their work so far, and how are they looking to fund their rapid expansion?

The director of the organisation is a politician's wife, and from all the signs the organisation is basically her "plaything" that he has given her. The funding up til now seems to have come from his own pocket, or the pockets of friends and business contacts. And in all honesty, if that was how it was to continue, then though disappointing that so much more could be done with the money, that would be entirely their choice and good luck to them. However...

Since being here, both my friends have been asked countless times to request funding from friends and family back home (in the US and the UK). They have also gone out with the children on a number of occasions to a couple of the upmarket shopping centres to, basically, beg for money from shoppers. And the main reason the VSO person is here is to put together a funding proposal to elicit some major financing from an international donor. So, all of a sudden, rather than someone's personal little toy they can spend what and how they want on, we're talking about money that could be used effectively rather than wasted.

The lawyer in charge of our legal aid department (okay, he IS our legal aid department) says that the politician concerned is basically a crook and that the organisation is at best a tax dodge, at worst a front for something, and has advised my two friends that they should get out ASAP. He has also warned them to be very careful on how they do leave. Apparently "corrupt" can also refer to "dangerous" in this neck of the woods...