austraLasia 1276
Real food for thought: NGOs making a huge, but often unreflected difference to Asian national accounts
BANGKOK: 8th October 2005 -- It would be difficult to put an exact figure on the direct funding, contribution of personnel and economic impact of Salesian NGO and not-for-profit activity in the East Asia Oceania Region, but in the light of information coming from a Bangkok Conference this week, the figure, contribution and impact are likely to be rather more significant than governments acknowledge - if they acknowledge, and that may be the problem!
The Bangkok Conference looked at the role of non-profits and how to get more governments to include them in their national staistics or 'national accounts'. The Conference was organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP). And the statistics they have turn on their head the assumption that non-profit work - and Salesian activity falls under this category - is welcome and nice but not essential, and thus could be done away with.
In the Philippines, non-profit and volunteer organisations are a 1.2 billion dollar (USD) industry, with expenditures reaching 1.5 percent GDP. They employ five more times people than huge utility companies and have many more employees than in the country's biggest companies, including San Miguel Corp (beer and other beverages and foodstuffs). "We didn't know the contributions were this big until we looked into the figures" pointed out Prof. Ledivina Carino of the Uni of Philippines College of Public Administration and Governance.
In many countries, governments give funds to non-profit organisations to reach groups of people they find hard to reach otherwise. This is certainly true of Italy and Germany, where the Salesians have either large Mission and Development Offices or NGO organisations (like VIS and JDW). Many of these funds end up in the EAO region (though not only).
To date, 18 countries - including Belgium, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan - have committed to changing their statistical systems or adding what are called 'satellite accounts' to track profits. It is interesting to note that in both South Korea and Japan, recent years have seen a huge growth in voluntary groups (5,000 of them listed in the South Korean NGO directory alone, and 30% of these reporting annual budgets of 10,000-100,000 USD).
And while it might be difficult to put an exact figure on the Salesian part in this activity, it would be interesting to give some thought to a global picture of 'Salesians NGO', as well as the usual Salesians SDB.
VOCABULARY
NGO: abbreviation for Non-Government Organisation
__________________
Real food for thought: NGOs making a huge, but often unreflected difference to Asian national accounts
BANGKOK: 8th October 2005 -- It would be difficult to put an exact figure on the direct funding, contribution of personnel and economic impact of Salesian NGO and not-for-profit activity in the East Asia Oceania Region, but in the light of information coming from a Bangkok Conference this week, the figure, contribution and impact are likely to be rather more significant than governments acknowledge - if they acknowledge, and that may be the problem!
The Bangkok Conference looked at the role of non-profits and how to get more governments to include them in their national staistics or 'national accounts'. The Conference was organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP). And the statistics they have turn on their head the assumption that non-profit work - and Salesian activity falls under this category - is welcome and nice but not essential, and thus could be done away with.
In the Philippines, non-profit and volunteer organisations are a 1.2 billion dollar (USD) industry, with expenditures reaching 1.5 percent GDP. They employ five more times people than huge utility companies and have many more employees than in the country's biggest companies, including San Miguel Corp (beer and other beverages and foodstuffs). "We didn't know the contributions were this big until we looked into the figures" pointed out Prof. Ledivina Carino of the Uni of Philippines College of Public Administration and Governance.
In many countries, governments give funds to non-profit organisations to reach groups of people they find hard to reach otherwise. This is certainly true of Italy and Germany, where the Salesians have either large Mission and Development Offices or NGO organisations (like VIS and JDW). Many of these funds end up in the EAO region (though not only).
To date, 18 countries - including Belgium, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan - have committed to changing their statistical systems or adding what are called 'satellite accounts' to track profits. It is interesting to note that in both South Korea and Japan, recent years have seen a huge growth in voluntary groups (5,000 of them listed in the South Korean NGO directory alone, and 30% of these reporting annual budgets of 10,000-100,000 USD).
And while it might be difficult to put an exact figure on the Salesian part in this activity, it would be interesting to give some thought to a global picture of 'Salesians NGO', as well as the usual Salesians SDB.
VOCABULARY
NGO: abbreviation for Non-Government Organisation
__________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml. If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
