Cablegate: South China Ngo Getting More Professional but Still Face

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R 150927Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 000679

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SOCI PGOV ECON SCUL EAID CH
SUBJECT: South China NGO Getting More Professional But Still Face
Internal Challenges

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(U) This document is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly. Not for release outside U.S. government channels. Not
for internet publication.

1. (SBU) SUMMARY: As the operational space for non-government
organizations (NGOs) continue to slowly widen in China (septel), the
sector's social role is becoming more defined and some organizations
are beginning to mature in how they organize and operate, according
to NGO experts in south China. As part of this trend, the Internet
and the media are playing an increasingly important role in the
public campaign efforts of some south China NGOs. However, not all
NGOs have been able to take full advantage of this extra space.
Some have stalled in their development as a result of internal
capacity challenges. Lack of training and oversight are often cited
by NGO organizers as reasons why some organizations struggle to
mature. End Summary.

The Role of NGOs in China
--------------------------

2. (SBU) NGOs in China are more clearly defining their social
functions, said Professor Zhu Jiangang, Director of Sun Yat-sen
University's Institute of Civil Society (ISC) in Guangzhou. Zhu
told the Consul General and ConGenOff that the sector's role in
Chinese society has become more directed and falls into three major
categories. First, the sector is a provider of social services,
especially in areas where the Chinese government cannot or where the
market is unwilling to do so. Second, by helping the development of
rule of law, NGOs have a role in defending human and civil rights.
Third, NGOs act as social innovators because social problems cannot
be solved by the government, the market, or NGOs alone. NGOs can
experiment on how to improve social welfare, and if it is
successful, the government can take up the model and craft new
policies accordingly. This is a learning process for all involved,
said Zhu.

NGO Professionalization
-----------------------

3. (SBU) In recent years, there has been a slow, but steady, trend
of Chinese NGOs becoming more mature in their organization and
operation, according to Zhu. Some NGOs in south China have become
more professionalized and have expanded beyond their initial
location to offer services to a larger community. Several have also
transitioned from loosely organized volunteer organizations to ones
with more defined administrative structures. Zhu added that the
founders of NGOs are no longer limited to social workers, but also
include migrant workers, students, university graduates,
businessmen, former government officials, and even members of
organized crime rings. Many labor NGOs in south China, for example,
were founded by migrant workers.

4. (SBU) The Friends Social Welfare Association, a student organized
NGO serving the gay and lesbian community, began on the campus of
South China University of Technology in Guangzhou's University Town.
It now has offices on two other campuses and the association's
activities have expanded to include the entire University Town,
which houses ten universities, said its founder Chen Du. Although
the staff are all volunteers, each has a set of defined
responsibilities and administrative duties, said Chen. Yangai
Special Children Parent Club, which provides assistance to families
of children with special needs in Guangzhou, is another organization
that has compartmentalize its internal functions. Yangai has
separate departments for education, parent services, and project
development. The organization also offers internships to university
students majoring in social work or sociology, said an
administrator. ICS, the organization that Zhu heads up, has a board
of directors consisting of scholars, entrepreneurs, and other NGO
leaders. It supports the developmental work of NGOs in south China,
as well as those in Yunnan and Anhui provinces. ICS also has plans
to create formal training programs for NGO professionals and
volunteers in the near future.

Making Good Use of the Internet
-------------------------------

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5. (SBU) The Internet is proving to be a valuable public relations
tool for NGOs in south China. At ICS, Zhu's team is working with
specialists from Guangdong University of Technology and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a web platform,
known as Philanthropy 2.0, to facilitate communication among China's
NGOs. Meanwhile, organizations like FSWA uses the Internet as its
core means of communication with its constituents, said FSWA founder
Chen. He explained that because FSWA targets young people,
particularly students, who spend a lot of time surfing the Internet,
having an online platform is essential for promoting the association
and disseminating information to its members. FSWA administers two
blogs and has also created a user group in QQ, an online instant
messenger service. Yangai also taps the Internet to do outreach and
fund-raising with a relatively developed website and an online
store. Yangai Project Development Director Liu Yahui said that she
hoped the organization could further raise its Internet presence in
the future.

6. (SBU) Separately, some organizations have linked up with other
civil society actors, like bloggers, to publicize their work. At a
recent meeting of Chinese bloggers in Guangdong, many grassroots
NGOs gave presentations about their organizations. These included
NGOs working on education and children's issues, as well as charity
funds and advocacy groups. "The conference was a platform for us to
share and exchange our ideas with like-minded people who have access
to many information channels on the Internet," said one NGO
presenter.

Media and Government Relations
------------------------------

7. (SBU) A good relationship with the media is essential for an NGO
to be successful in China because it lessens the degree of official
scrutiny and provides positive exposure of an NGO's work, said Wei
Wei, founder of Little Bird Mutual Help Hotline. Media reports have
helped Little Bird spread the word about its services and have made
the organization more functional and effective, according to Wei.
In Guangdong, Shenzhen Television and Southern Metropolis Daily
(Nanfang Dushi Bao) recently highlighted Little Bird's Shenzhen
office, after which the office saw an increase in the number of
migrant workers seeking legal advice from the organization. In
2004, Little Bird had similar success in Beijing, when a report
about the hotline aired on the Beijing Evening News. The publicity
ultimately resulted in the local government granting the NGO the
right to establish the Little Bird People's Mediation Committee
under the Donghuamen Justice Office. With this new status, Little
Bird possessed an organizational identity to approach companies and
represent migrant workers and their rights. Drawing on Little
Bird's experience with the media, Wei plans to create a training
course for grassroots NGOs on how to develop a media strategy and
take advantage of the resulting publicity.

8. (SBU) For organizations like FSWA, however, avoiding the media
but concentrating on relations with the authorities may be a better
strategy. Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
communities on many of Guangzhou's university campuses, FSWA found
that keeping a low profile and avoiding media exposure meant less
scrutiny and opposition from university authorities, said founder
Chen Du. Instead, he has cultivated relations with the
universities' Communist Youth League committees, working with them
to host events and programs focused on sex education. In contrast,
Chen said that a similar organization, the more high-profile Rainbow
Association at Sun Yat-sen University, was banned by university
authorities not long after its founding.

Internal Roadblocks
-------------------

9. (SBU) Although some Chinese NGOs have been able to capitalize on
the wider operational space afforded them by the authorities, others
find themselves at a development stage where they simply are unable
to take full advantage due to internal shortcomings, said Li Weining
(aka Miles W.N. Lee), a senior research fellow at China Development
Institute (CDI) in Shenzhen. Although organizers of many NGOs have

GUANGZHOU 00000679 003.2 OF 003

great ideas and passion for their work, they are often deficient in
the administrative experience and financial expertise required to
efficiently organize and grow an organization, according to Li.
Zhou Xinjing, founder of Allied Social Work Services Center of
Shenzhen, lamented that it is difficult for her organization to
attract support because she and her staff lack management and
promotional skills, as well as computer know-how to advertise her
organization's work. She said that other barriers afflicting
organizations like hers include the lack of training in
organizational management, team and project development, and
evaluation skills.

10. (SBU) There are no established training curriculums for NGO
administration in China, Li pointed out, adding that whatever
training does exist is informal and often in the form of seminars,
conferences, and forums. Zhu of ICS, which currently offers
seminars on NGO development, also identified training as a critical
area for development. Within the next three years, with assistance
from the British Council in Guangzhou, ICS plans to provide formal
training on volunteerism, NGO professionalism, and social
entrepreneurship.

11. (SBU) Another internal encumbrance facing many NGOs in China is
often the founders themselves, argued one south China expert. Some
heads of NGOs run an organization as if it is his/her "kingdom," and
the NGO's success is intimately linked with its leader's success, he
explained. Related to this issue is the matter of oversight. Most
NGOs in China, particularly the grassroots ones, lack internal
oversight mechanisms, which often lead to accountability problems.

Comment - Positive Trend
------------------------

12. (SBU) The disparities in professional capacity are large between
more mature organizations and less developed ones in south China's
emergent NGO sector. Many have a long way to go and will continue
to struggle with internal problems. However, the trend is positive,
and local experts are optimistic about the potential for NGOs to
play a growing role in society in south China.

GOLDBECK

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