2nd Online Colloquium: Challenges for Grassroots NGOs

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在中国大陆组建一个非官方背景的NGO，是相当困难的一件事。这种困难来自：政府政策束缚、官方背景NGO的资源垄断、社会诚信缺失、草根NGO自身能力不足、资金支持方的要求脱离现实。

政府政策束缚

中国大陆《宪法》规定：中华人民共和国公民有言论、出版、集会、结社、游行、示威的自由。但要在大陆结社（组建一个NGO），就必须按照《社会团体登记管理条例》的要求去登记，否则不承认其法律地位。没有合法的地位，公开接受社会捐赠，追究起来是犯罪行为。该法例规定，成立一个组织，除了要有固定的住所、专职工作人员和3万元以上的注册资金外，还必须要有业务主管单位的批准文件。而"业务主管单位"，则是指各级政府部门。这也被称为中国特色的"双重管理制度"----即非政府组织由民政部门和另一行政部门共同管理。而在现实中，很少有行政部门愿意成为"业务主管单位"，因为这会惹来很多"麻烦"。近期，有消息透露，《社会团体登记管理条例》正在修订，不符合注册条件的组织可以采用"备案"的形式获得合法的身份。但根据全国近二十个省市的新规定来看，"备案"令人失望的预期增强。

官方背景NGO的资源垄断

因为大陆严格的非政府组织管理方式，导致一些带有官方背景的NGO才有能力注册。比如一些听起来是NGO的残疾人联合会、妇女联合会、工人委员会等，都是官方背景的NGO，这些组织在中国被称为"GONGO"。甚至现在，还有一些官方NGO的工作人员薪酬由政府拨付。这些"GONGO"曾在很长一段时间内垄断了公益资源，包括资金、人才、社会信任度等。以去年发生的"512汶川大地震"为例，全国的捐款仅能通过中国红十字会、中华慈善总会发放到灾区。其他的机构公布捐赠账号和公开募集捐款，都有违法犯罪的风险。清华大学NGO研究所的一份研究报告也证实了这一点。

社会诚信缺失

从1978年改革开放后，中国大陆在政治、经济上经历了巨大的社会变革。原本的"熟人社会"由于急剧的城市化演变而支离破碎，传统社会价值观也因"金钱至上"的私利主义迅速瓦解。在这种情况下，一个不具有合法地位的草根NGO，需要面临苛刻、甚至无理的质疑和更长时间的社会考验。社会普遍不相信来自民间的个人可以毫无功利目的去做一件对社会有利的事。在由于社会诚信的缺失，商业支持也变得更为功利----他们更愿意将资金投入到令政府满意的领域或者机构。

草根NGO自身能力不足

很多投身NGO的人，都是在试图实现自己的理想。而对于财务、机构管理、对外交流方面则能力较弱。当前大陆很多NGO领袖，不仅没有"公民社会"的概念、不能亲身示范做一个"公民"，还多半是社会的失败者----他们被旧有体制所淘汰，才被迫接触到一个全新的NGO领域，能力视野都有很大的局限。这就会出现财务不透明、人才流失、使命感丧失等"治理危机"，一旦因此而遭受社会质疑时，往往难于招架。

资金支持方的要求脱离现实

现在，中国大陆已经存有很多草根NGO。除了极个别民政注册外，他们或者未注册，或者工商注册。支持这些草根NGO成长的基金会也越来越多，比如：全球基金、亚洲基金会、福特基金会、盖茨基金会等。这些机构对中国草根NGO的成长做出了巨大贡献，但其带来的不良影响也非常深远。他们无视中国大陆草根NGO的现实，而仅仅把草根NGO当成完成项目的工作，往往只支持活动费用，不支持人员工资、行政费用、设备购买、办公室租金。很多草根NGO为了生存而不得不做假账，出现严重的财务问题，资金支持方对这种现象不寻求更好的解决方法反而大加指责，进一步恶化了中国大陆草根NGO的生存环境。这些资金支持方需要明白一个关键道理：在一些特定领域，如IDU人群、MSM人群、HIV感染者、流动人口，草根NGO与社群有着异常紧密的联系，官方或官方NGO没有草根NGO，根本无法完成项目目标。

作者简介：于方强，北京益仁平中心反歧视法律援助事务负责人，关注大陆公民社会发展，涉足领域包括AIDS、HBV、劳工、助学、罕见病等。

Challenges for Grassroots Organizations in China                                           

 

In mainland China it is extremely hard to start-up a non-governmental organization (NGO) without a background in government. The difficulties are due to restrictive government policies, monopolization of resources by NGOs with government background, a lack of trust throughout the overall society, the lack of capabilities among the grassroots' organizations, and unrealistic expectations from funders.

Restrictive Government Policies

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China requires that all its citizens have the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to peaceably assemble, organize, demonstrate and petition. However, in order to organize in mainland China (i.e., to establish an NGO), one has to register the organization according to the Social Organizations Registration and Administration Act. If the organization does not do this it is not protected under the law.  It is criminal for such an organization to publicly accept outside donations without a legal status. In addition, to establish such an NGO, they must have a regular business location, full-time staff, a registration capital of more than thirty thousand yuan and official documents with a stamp of approval from the governmental agencies, which have been designated as "supervising offices."

The fact that one non-governmental organization will be co-administered by a civil affairs governmental office and another public administration office represents the unique "Chinese way" of double administration. However, in reality what happens is that few public administration offices actually are interested in bearing the "troubles" of being a "supervising office." Recently the Social Organizations Registration and Administration Act has been amended. It now states that organizations that are disqualified from registering may still get legal status under a separate filing system. However provisions of the amended Act, enacted in nearly twenty provinces and cities across the country, are expected to still be discouraging.

Monopoly of Resources by NGOs with Government Background

Because of the rigorous administration of NGOs, only those with government background are able to register. Some NGOs - such as Disabled Persons' Federation, Women's Federation, National Labor Union, etc. - all have governmental background. These organizations are called "GONGO" in China. Some of the staff of these NGOs are even on the government payroll. These "GONGOs" have long monopolized the philanthropic resources of China, including their funding, human resources, social trust, etc. Take for example last year's Wenchuan Earthquake. Donations from all over the country were only distributed to the stricken region via the Red Cross Society of China or China Charity Federation. Other organizations that publish bank account numbers to solicit and accept donations run the risk of being charged by the court, according to a research report done by the Center of NGOs, at Tsinghua University.

A Lack of Trust Throughout Society

Since the Reform and Opening Policy of 1978, Mainland China has seen tremendous social changes both politically and economically. The past "society of acquaintances" completely fell apart due to the rapid urbanization process. In addition, its traditional social values were devoured by the "money first" principle driven by self interests. In this context a grassroots NGO with no legal status faces harsh and even irrational doubts and a long road to societal acceptance. In general, the public does not believe that one person, with no government affiliation, would do something beneficial for society without a self-interested motive.  Also because of this lack of trust, enterprise sponsorships prefer funding causes or organizations that the government has endorsed.

The Lack of Capabilities Among Grassroots Organizations

Admittedly, many people involved with NGOs are idealists who want to realize their dreams for society. They might not be all that great in dealing with finances, administration and external communication. However, many NGO managers in mainland China are people who were 'failures' in society - they are abandoned by the old system and are forced to this whole new world of NGOs, with enormous limitations in both their capability and their visions. "Administration crises" can easily arise in their organizations because of non-transparent financial records, loss of talent, and an eroding sense of mission. Once these difficulties become public, they are almost always unable to be resolved.

Unrealistic Expectations from Funders

Today, there are already many grassroots NGOs in mainland China. Most of them are unregistered, others are registered as business organizations. Fewer are registered at a civil affairs office. There are increasingly more foundations that support these NGOs, such as the Global Fund, The Asia Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Gates Foundation. Even though these agencies have made tremendous contributions to the growth of NGOs in mainland China, their negative impact can be just as profound. They tend to see these NGOs as tools to accomplish their local projects, so they only fund their own specific activities and ignore the broader reality, which is that these NGOs also need to pay bills, salaries, administration costs, office supplies, rent, etc. Consequently, grassroots NGOs sometimes resort to manipulating their books in order to survive and this leads to very serious financial problems. When this happens, funders tend not to seek better solutions, but instead they severely criticize the NGOs, which creates an even more difficult situation.

One important thing these funders need to know:

In specific areas, these NGOs have critical close connections with vulnerable groups such as Injecting Drug Users (the IDU population), Men who have sex with men (the MSM population), people infected with HIV, and the migrant population. The government or governmental NGOs simply cannot accomplish their projects without the assistance from grassroots NGOs.

About the author:

 

Fangqiang Yu, Managing Partner of Beijing Yirenping Center for Anti-Discrimination Law. He focuses on the social development of citizens living in mainland China, and specialized in AIDS-, HBV-, labor-, education assistance-, rare disease-related fields.