Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Non-government organizations, or NGOs, are non-profit citizen groups who provide essential services to our residents. Everything from feeding the hungry and housing the homeless to providing child care, safe shelters or counselling services for youth and those with addictions or legal issues.
NGOs face unimaginable challenges in doing the work they do. They rely on a core of selfless volunteers who work long hours with little support because they believe in helping others in their communities.
They lack funds and often make do with less than adequate facilities, yet somehow year after year they continue to meet the needs of the most vulnerable and underprivileged among us.
Where is the GNWT in all this? Our NGO funding policy makes a paltry $350,000 per year available to eligible NGOs that meet our vaguely defined criteria. This $350,000 hasn’t changed since the policy inception in 2010-2011.
Let’s put this in perspective. In 2012-2013, 27 organizations applied for funding totalling over $1 million of ask. Of the 27, less than half, 11 applicants, shared in the funding and of those, only three got the full amount they requested.
Only three out of 27 had their funding needs met, yet the GNWT’s own policy says that this elusive funding is for NGOs to “deliver programs and services that the GNWT considers critical and which the GNWT would deliver directly if the NGO were not able to do so.”
Further, for those NGOs seeking funding for the coming 2014-2015 fiscal year, information is non-existent. Information on the Department of Executive’s website is a year old and provides deadlines for applicants for last year’s allocations. I think this speaks volumes about how critical the GNWT really thinks the work of NGOs is.
Members of this House have asked repeatedly for funding for NGOs to be increased, but this alone is not enough. The time NGO volunteers spend fundraising is time they are not spending helping those in need. NGOs need clarity and reliability of funding. They need accurate, up-to-date information. NGOs need a clear decision-making process for funding applications and a list of what the government considers to be priority of critical services.
We need to do more for these NGOs who do not qualify for funding so they can become better qualified.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
We should be providing services to assist emergent NGOs and to take a look at existing stable NGOs to see where there are overlaps in synergies, so we can assist these NGOs to streamline these operations and stretch our funding dollars.
This government has a responsibility to stop paying lip service to NGOs and to start to recognize NGOs as a valued and essential resource. It’s time the government stopped inadequate, piecemeal funding for services that are, by its own admission, critical to NWT residents.
It is time for the government to implement an integrated approach to working with NGOs in the true spirit of partnership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
