Iftikharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), believes that four reasons are responsible for the decline in foreign aid to NGOs.
First, many countries and multilateral lending agencies are facing a funding crunch due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war; For this reason, less funds have been released to various projects in Bangladesh, especially those related to the Rohingya crisis.
Second, the increasingly complex process reduced the flow of funds to NGOs working on good governance and rights in the country.
Third, Bangladesh is moving from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group to the list of developing countries, and for this reason, NGOs receive less funding.
Fourth, amid a global perspective, the number of refugees has increased in various countries in Europe, and Europe’s large economies and donor agencies are spending more money to ensure the basic rights of refugees there.
As a result, those countries and donor agencies are allocating less money to other countries.
*This report appeared on the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and was rewritten in English by Ashish Basu and Hasanul Banna.
