Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury and Prof Muzaffer Ahmad were scathing about the country's non-government organisations' (NGOs) activities yesterday while urging them to become transparent, accountable and well governed. Primary and Mass Education, Women and Children, and Cultural Affairs Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury, and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman Prof Muzaffer Ahmad were addressing a convention of NGOs titled 'Institutional Good Governance of NGOs'.

The convention was organised by Sushasoner Jonny Procharavizan (SUPRO -- Campaign for Good Governance) and was held in the LGED auditorium in the capital. Representatives from about 400 NGOs across the country attended the convention.

The convention adopted a 10-point 'accountability charter' which includes promises to bring transparency and accountability in NGO management and financial policies.

"We should ensure accountability and transparency in our work -- many questions are being raised about the governance and transparency of NGOs," Rasheda K Chowdhury said while addressing the closing session of the convention as the chief guest.

She said there is a lack of government monitoring of NGO activities. She hoped that the government will take measure to increase its NGO monitoring activities.

Rasheda urged all NGOs to bring professionalism in their activities, saying some NGOs are run by family members.

Criticising different NGOs, Rasheda questioned how many of those have administrative structures based on gender equality.

There are NGOs which do not have transparency in disbursement of the development fund they get from donors.

“If we are campaigning and working against superstitions, then how extremists and militants crop up in our country?" Rasheda threw a question at the delegates adding that the time has come to assess NGO activities.

There are NGOs which show the same project to as many as five donors to get funds from all of them.

Prof Muzaffer Ahmad at the inaugural session said NGOs do not have the mentality to help the poor. It is known to all what the NGOs are doing with their micro-credit programmes in the name of making the poor self-reliant, he quipped.

He urged NGOs not to take financial assistance from foreign donors and to become self-reliant instead.

"In our country, NGOs are run with foreign funds but they have to become self-reliant," he said.

Criticising the NGOs, Muzaffer said they do not keep their words. "There is no transparency in NGO activities," he said adding that formulating a charter is not enough,

implementation of it must be ensured.

He said, "Some NGO owners have large sums of money in their bank accounts," adding, "Corrupt NGOs should be identified."

The TIB chairman told the NGO representatives, "You don't stand against eviction of indigenous people from their ancestral lands, against encroachment on rivers and lands. You don't stand against pollution through industrial waste."

"Where is your contribution in the field of agriculture? You are speaking of eliminating poverty but you are doing nothing for the betterment of farmers. Rather you are making them poorer by distributing loans on high interest rates," he lambasted.

Muzaffer also alleged that quite a few times NGOs were used to serve partisan political goals.

Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, Syed Nurul Islam, Tahmina Rahman, and Abdul Awal also spoke among others.