The 2011 Egyptian revolution has had a serious – and often overlooked impact – on Egypt’s civil society. The country’s local organisations are being left behind in a culture that advantages INGOs and expert consultants. How can smaller, Egyptian nonprofits keep up?

The revolution brought about many social, political and judicial changes that created a number of challenges for CSOs. For my organisation, Hope Village Society (HVS), which I founded in 1988 as the first locally-led organisation working with Egyptian street children, the difficulties in the intervening decade plus have been numerous.

New and restrictive laws require security clearance before using any funding inside or outside Egypt. Obtaining such clearance could take more time than the duration of the project itself. NGOs attempting to access funding before clearance has been granted are shut down, no questions asked.

Economic problems and rising currency exchange rates seriously hurt the income of a number of key individual givers who used to donate to HVS. These high net worth individuals provided 70 percent of all funding sources prior to 2011. Now, this figure is 30 percent.

Since the Revolution, there has been a trend towards preferential financing of national projects undertaken by the state rather than locally led projects by CSOs. This has affected both the volume of finance provided by funding agencies and the private sector, with CSOs missing out in both cases.

Another major issue, not just happening in Egypt, is the tendency of former employees of INGOs to set up their own consultancy businesses. Leveraging their existing relationships with international funding agencies, they can then win grants that would previously have gone to truly local CSOs.

Similarly damaging is a trend for private sector organisations to establish their own NGOs, through which they carry out projects for tax exemptions or enhancing their public image. Again, this brings more and more competition for what are already very squeezed resources.

CSOs are disadvantaged against these new kinds of competitors in many ways. Funding applications tend to come with much prohibitive red tape, which many locally-led organisations don’t have the expertise to navigate. The insistence on providing project descriptions in English also adds additional costs to cash-strapped CSOs.

In Egypt, especially in recent years, we are also feeling the effects of changes within how many INGOs operate. For example, UNICEF, Save the Children, and Plan International have begun implementing projects themselves instead of providing funding to locally-led expert organisations.

My organisation, HVS based in Cairo, which is a member of the Family for Every Child Network, has carried out a variety of different projects focused on reintegrating children with their families or providing economic support for families so that children are not forced into the labour market. In the 36 years HVS has been working, we have also expanded our programmes to operate in other Egyptian cities, as well as support young people leaving home.

All these projects require continuous funding to pay the salaries of specialists, social workers, therapists, and other employees, as well as rent and operational and living expenses. Donors prefer that their funding goes directly to the children, and don’t always cover these expenses. Moreover, some funding institutions set a percentage of funding for salaries. This becomes an additional burden on CSOs.

How to improve the donor landscape

Whilst acknowledging there is no quick or easy fix for Egyptian CSOs struggling for funds, I do have some ideas about how the donor landscape could be improved.

Reducing the amount of red tape required to present projects and simplifying the application process would go a long way. Reducing the time to approve projects presented by CSOs so as not to delay the start of important work would also be very beneficial.

I would suggest that donor organisations need to be cautious when they employ someone who previously worked for an INGO. Because our experience shows that time and time again, they will either favour their previous institution when evaluating projects or exclude other projects from fair consideration.

Monitoring employees’ links with former colleagues is advised, to ensure personal relationships don’t influence funding decisions in a way that negatively impacts on CSOs.

I would also appeal to donors to strongly consider supporting local CSOs rather than channelling funds towards government projects, that are already in receipt of funding.

Finally, we hope donors would understand that CSOs that help children and young people directly should not be prevented from doing their work for a single day, whether as a result of funding gaps, or disproportionate time taken up applying for funds. Such a disruption will result in more children, young people, and families living on the streets, having been denied their basic human rights.

Dr Abla El-Badry is general manager at Hope Village Society in Cairo, Egypt.