Arun Bharat

1. The rating is needed as many frivolous and fraudulent NGOs are mushrooming day by day for getting funds from the government and overseas donors.

2. The rating may be on the lines of CRISIL, the organization which certifies the credit wothyness of companies or on the lines of ISO which certifies the quality of system.

3. The criteria can be based on the magnitude of work and network, the reach, number of benificiaries, money spent, age of an  organization, relevance of its cause, and the difficulty in furthering their cause.

4. The certifying body may be a council on the lines of National Accreditation Council for certifying the qualities of educational institutions.

5. It may be funded by the federation of NGOs like Karmayog or a new body funded by the signatories.

6. It may be useful to identify the genuine NGOs and their level of charitable work.

As of now, there are few recognitions for NGOs like 80 G certificate issued by the Incometax department, approval by social welfare department, etc., But to my knowledge, there are no certifying body.

I have my own doubt how far such a move will be welcomed by the NGOs who may dislike the idea of being assessed on their service. Moreover there may be an argument that nobody must be made to feel like doing less important service than others. Above all, it is very difficult to ensure credibility, transparency, acceptability, and honesty of such a body.

Arun Bharat
aruncbharat@yahoo.co.in