NGO in Cambodia
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My time in Afghanistan I witnessed an NGO giving pink balloons to starving children
https://unama.unmissions.org/10000-pink ... l-citizens
I am sure this helped them no end
https://unama.unmissions.org/10000-pink ... l-citizens
I am sure this helped them no end
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Yes, but the Thai ones are better
'The general population doesn't know what's happening, and it doesn't even know that it doesn't know.'
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
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I think you are most likely ignorant about most NGOs especially NGOs in Cambodia.
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I haven't had the opportunity to experience the Cambodian version yet, in many countries I have seen and witnessed a lot of what they do.
Working for ISAF and have had the unique privilege of seeing many of them 1st hand.
Working for ISAF and have had the unique privilege of seeing many of them 1st hand.
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I’m not an NGO apologist. I work in the sector & I see mistakes they have made over the years and often criticise. But I also see the massive improvement that they have brought to Cambodian society.
Schools built, hospitals built and equipped, doctors trained, clean water provided. Massive improvement in Sexual health care. Thousands raised from the pit of poverty now qualified and working in successful roles. To say that NGOs are ‘balloons’ is an easy and lazy snipe.
There are members here who are married to, or in relationship with, locals who have been brought up by NGOs who without the NGO involvement would have had an extremely miserable life.
Yes they make mistakes, yes some waste money, yes there have been scandals. But don’t think for a second that all NGOs are money wasting, freewheeling, self-promoting organisations.
It’s a very difficult sector to work in. I have worked in senior roles in the private & public sector and the NGO role is amongst the most challenging.
It’s made even more difficult because of comments like yours. Many people are cynical about all NGOs because they once saw a fancy car with NGO plates. I have seen that also (though not for a long time), but I don’t know the back story or context. For example, often funds are donated for very specific purposes - if a donor wants to drop $50k to pay for a new organisational car, then funds must be spent on that. What should the NGO do? Refuse the donation?
But as with every sector, mistakes are made. But NGO mistakes seem to highlighted and remembered for years.
Schools built, hospitals built and equipped, doctors trained, clean water provided. Massive improvement in Sexual health care. Thousands raised from the pit of poverty now qualified and working in successful roles. To say that NGOs are ‘balloons’ is an easy and lazy snipe.
There are members here who are married to, or in relationship with, locals who have been brought up by NGOs who without the NGO involvement would have had an extremely miserable life.
Yes they make mistakes, yes some waste money, yes there have been scandals. But don’t think for a second that all NGOs are money wasting, freewheeling, self-promoting organisations.
It’s a very difficult sector to work in. I have worked in senior roles in the private & public sector and the NGO role is amongst the most challenging.
It’s made even more difficult because of comments like yours. Many people are cynical about all NGOs because they once saw a fancy car with NGO plates. I have seen that also (though not for a long time), but I don’t know the back story or context. For example, often funds are donated for very specific purposes - if a donor wants to drop $50k to pay for a new organisational car, then funds must be spent on that. What should the NGO do? Refuse the donation?
But as with every sector, mistakes are made. But NGO mistakes seem to highlighted and remembered for years.
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They are sometimes slated for overspend and misappropriation of funds and because of the few all end up tarred with the same brush. As you say white landcruisers are a popular choice.
My Uncle and Aunt setup and ran one of the most successful NGO's in Africe https://www.raisingfutureskenya.org.uk/about-us/ I have the greatest respect for them "Uncle unfortunatley passed away last month" and the undying effort they put in to the project.
There is that other face of the NGO thats difficult to ignore.
My Uncle and Aunt setup and ran one of the most successful NGO's in Africe https://www.raisingfutureskenya.org.uk/about-us/ I have the greatest respect for them "Uncle unfortunatley passed away last month" and the undying effort they put in to the project.
There is that other face of the NGO thats difficult to ignore.
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I think there’s a sizeable number of expats here who need for NGOs to all be corrupt gangs of thieves. They themselves came here to take advantage of the country’s poverty for a cheap retirement and cheaper handjobs, and what they don’t need is do-gooders either making them feel guilty or driving prices up by improving things.ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 8:07 amSchools built, hospitals built and equipped, doctors trained, clean water provided. Massive improvement in Sexual health care. Thousands raised from the pit of poverty now qualified and working in successful roles. To say that NGOs are ‘balloons’ is an easy and lazy snipe.
There are members here who are married to, or in relationship with, locals who have been brought up by NGOs who without the NGO involvement would have had an extremely miserable life.
Therefore each and every story of an NGO screwing up or an NGO worker doing something dodgy gets passed round with glee and gets disproportionately more attention than the vastly bigger trove of much less juicy stories of millions helped in millions of small ways.
Side note on salaries: everyone I know who earns a salary at an NGO is earning less than someone with their resume could easily earn in private industry. Sure it’s easy to make it look bad when their local coworkers earn a fraction of it, but it doesn’t change the fact that they themselves are giving up a lot personally to do this.
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Yeah I get that. When I was a kid growing up there was an old pervert in a wheelchair who came to watch all the kids football matches and offered leg massages to the boys.MarkinAston wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 8:30 amThere is that other face of the NGO thats difficult to ignore.
So whilst I appreciate that there are some good folks in wheelchairs there is the other face of the wheelchair user which is hard to ignore.
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Hah! Burn, muthafuckaផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:43 pmYeah I get that. When I was a kid growing up there was an old pervert in a wheelchair who came to watch all the kids football matches and offered leg massages to the boys.MarkinAston wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 8:30 amThere is that other face of the NGO thats difficult to ignore.
So whilst I appreciate that there are some good folks in wheelchairs there is the other face of the wheelchair user which is hard to ignore.
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This is a reality of life in a wheelchairផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:43 pmYeah I get that. When I was a kid growing up there was an old pervert in a wheelchair who came to watch all the kids football matches and offered leg massages to the boys.MarkinAston wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 8:30 amThere is that other face of the NGO thats difficult to ignore.
So whilst I appreciate that there are some good folks in wheelchairs there is the other face of the wheelchair user which is hard to ignore.
"not one single person asked me anything. Not one person even looked at me. I was completely invisible to the world. It was an unfathomable feeling, one I had never experienced until being in a wheelchair."
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