Bangla NGOs fare well than Indian counterparts

Bangladesh has beaten India in global NGO rankings.

Ankita Chakrabarty/ Zee Research Group

Bangladesh has beaten India in global Non Governmental Organization (NGO) ranking putting a question mark on the hype surrounding the role played by the sector in the country. BRAC, a Bangladesh based poverty alleviation NGO, bagged the fourth slot in the global rankings while India had to take solace in cornering the 15th rank in the list of top 100 global NGOs released recently by ‘The Global Journal’. Indian NGOs, however, managed to get seven slots in the top 100 list while Bangladesh just managed two. Indian NGOs that featured on the list include Barefoot College, Arvind Eye Care System, Planet Read, Pratham, Gram Vikas, Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources and International Development Enterprises. Expressing immense satisfaction on the performance of Indian NGOs, Alexis Kalagas, deputy editor at ‘The Global Journal’ said,” There is a common thread linking these organizations - whether focused on social entrepreneurship, public health, or education.” “It is their impressive ability to identify low-cost and innovative strategies to address significant challenges, and then leverage the existing human and other resources already present in local communities to achieve the largest possible impact,” added Kalagas. The Global Journal is a global international research journal publishing organization, which compiled a list of 1000 NGOs that in turn were subjected to two rounds of review to evolve the top 100 NGOs. These were ranked on their effectiveness, impact, efficiency, transparency, accountability, sustainability and on strategic and financial management. Wikimedia Foundation of United States secured the top rank in the list followed by Partners in Health of United States and Oxfam of United Kingdom at second and third position respectively. Pratham, an education focused non-governmental organization, which secured 22nd rank, expressed happiness at the honour. Madhav Chavan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Pratham said, “It is really a good thing as the organization’s work is internationally recognized. However, I do not believe we can be ranked in any way.” Asked, however, to explain the general poor show of Indian NGOs having failed to make it to the top 10, Anusha Bhardwaj, at Gram Vikas (51st rank) said, “There are so many complexities involved in ranking an NGO. It is not at all possible to rank an NGO as each and every NGO works with a different set of people and with a different set of agendas.” “There might be many groups working in India who might be doing excellent work but may not be known internationally,” argued Chavan, in defense of NGOs in India. Pledging to work more efficiently in the near future, Bhardwaj at Gram Vikas said, “The main agenda of each and every NGO is to reach out to more and more people who are in real need and to work more efficiently and sincerely.” Celebrating the success, Nirav Shah, Chief Executive Officer at Planet Read (an education focus NGO), which secured 27th rank in the 100 best global list, said, “We are happy to be in the list. We welcome this ranking with love and adoration. We are expanding the scope of our work so that we can reach to more people.”