CARE Affair #11 - Power

interests. This frustration is shared by
many partners and affiliates in the
Global South who still feel dominated
by the North and demand a fair share
in the organizations’ decision-making.
Consequently, the governance of
international NGOs is increasingly
seen as both ineffective and illegitito
overcome social structures which
disempower people. But is the sheer
concept of ‘empowerment’ not
questionable as well, especially if it
seems to imply that yet again,
something is “given” to people, rather
than developed from the bottom-up?
Traditionally, power comes
with a strong linkage to the control of
resources. In the development and
humanitarian aid sector, this is
sometimes subtle and other times,
more overt. Public donors bring in
their ideas, connected with political
agendas, such as global security
concerns or the wish to keep refugees
at bay. An organisation such as CARE,
which receives over 70 percent of its
funding from government donors,
needs to acknowledge this, particularly
in times of increased instrumentalisation
of aid under political or
economic premises.
In addition to power, size
matters too. CARE International is an
800 million US-Dollar organization,
but not a monolithic block. Our
organization has members, big and
small, from rich and poor countries,
and from different geopolitical
regions. Decision-making within the
organization is neither easy nor very
formalised, and it has always been
difficult to develop fair and sophisticated
decision-making procedures
that reflect both size and numbers,
and represent the collective will of
CARE International.
In a recent survey conducted
by the International Civil Society
Centre, more than two-thirds of
organizations stated that their
governance is – at least sometimes –
too slow, too cumbersome, and much
too focused on balancing national
mate. Being self-reflective about these
issues, CARE has taken a journey that
is similar to many other decentralised
international organizations, aiming to
develop more as a network of peers,
with a better balance between the
North and the South. In light of such
observations, the CARE International
Board decided in 2014 in Delhi, that
by 2020 the CARE network should be
composed of more members from the
global South than from the North.
This comes with an expectation that
internal decision-making is changed,
as well as diversity and internal
perspectives and not surprisingly, a
recognition that is a bold ambition
given the requisite implementation
needs in a short timeframe.
CARE has now brought four
new affiliate members on board, from
Indonesia, Morocco, Egypt and Sri
Lanka, with the aim to develop them
quickly into full members of the
network. They have developed
business plans, started to establish
their own Boards and Governance,
are almost entirely staffed by nationals,
and follow very different paths.
CARE Sri Lanka has turned into a
social business named “Chrysalis”,
which is seeking to provide its
expertise in rural development and
community empowerment to national
and international development
actors. In Indonesia, CARE’s community
work will have to be coupled with
disaster preparedness; at the same
time fundraising will start in this
country which has a growing middle
class with a strong history of solidarity
in times of catastrophes. CARE
Morocco has already formed its own
Board, has been founded as a national
organization from the very beginning,
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