What is an NGO?

NGO, the abbreviation of English word "non-government organization", refers to an association, society, foundation, charitable trust, non-profit company or other legal person that is not regarded as a government department and is not for profit under a specific legal system.

The rise of non-governmental organizations around the world began in the 1980s. With the global population, poverty and environmental problems becoming increasingly prominent, people find that the sustainable development of human beings can not be solved only by the traditional government and market level. In response, non-governmental organizations have grown rapidly and formed a new social level.

NGO is not a government and is not driven by power; Nor is it driven by economy, especially economic interests. The driving force of NGO is voluntary service.

Developed modern society needs developed non-governmental organizations. According to a survey, there are more than 2 million non-governmental organizations in the United States, with a total capital of more than 500 billion and a staff of more than 9 million. Such a large and active non-governmental organization (NGO) conforms to the institutional structure of "big society, small government" in the United States. The origin of this system is related to the tradition of immigrants helping each other at the beginning of the founding of the United States.

The economic sources of non-governmental organizations are mainly social and private donations. For example, the United States has an extremely strong private foundation to support various NGOs in the United States. At the same time, the state has established a tax deduction system for donations to encourage donations.

[Edit this paragraph] The meaning of ]NGO

NGO is an effective "pressure reducing valve" and "stabilizer" of the government, and it also has a spiritual function that cannot be ignored. There are two kinds of NGOs in China: one is a top-down NGO with a long history and semi-official characteristics; The other is mostly established spontaneously by non-governmental people. At present, there are about 300 well-known non-governmental voluntary NGOs in China. Non-governmental organizations in China mainly focus on environmental protection, women and poverty alleviation, such as Friends of Nature in Beijing, volunteers in the global village and green home, Friends of Green in Tianjin and Green Home in Xuzhou, Jiangsu.

The essence of NGO lies in "going" and government organization, because the purpose of NGO is to care about public affairs, interfere with the implementation of public power, and even directly grasp public power in their own hands. In the international community, there are many examples to illustrate that non-governmental organizations can influence the decision-making of governments, such as the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle and the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun this year. The influence of NGOs extends from off-site to on-site. In the WTO, non-governmental organizations have been interfering with and preventing negotiations that are unfavorable to labor, environmental protection, third world developing countries and so on, which can be said to have made great contributions to the world. Even within a country, NGOs often have influence in determining welfare, national laws and regulations and the allocation of government resources.

The three key forces in this world are state, market and civil society, and NGO is the force representing civil society. The public power of a country is the only legal violent institution within a country. It is called a state machine. It has the army, police and courts, and can enforce all kinds of laws and regulations. It can also sign agreements with other countries in the world, and the signatory countries must abide by them. The state machine is legal violence. The market is the power of money and enterprises, the main purpose is to pursue profits, and everything else is secondary. Without the checks and balances of other factors, it will cause serious harm to human society. Finally, NGO is the power of civil society. It organizes citizens in society, exerts influence on public affairs, and demands the state to restrain the power of the market.

The country is public, but sometimes "government failure" can't reflect public opinion. At this time, NGOs should represent the power of civil society to correct it. Now that the government appears on international occasions, it cannot fully represent public opinion. Only NGOs are representative. The market will also "fail". For example, in Taiwan Province Province, many big businesses even refund taxes without paying taxes! Therefore, it is necessary to let the power of civil society emerge.

The state, market and civil society constantly interact with each other. Civil society requires the decentralization of state power and the opening of public resources to the public. At the same time, enterprises are also required to "rectify the company", obtain independent directors' seats, and intervene in business operations, so as to force large enterprises to take care of the interests of "stakeholders" such as the general public, not just the profits of stock holders.

[Edit this paragraph] Problems faced by NGOs

However, the state and enterprises will also "react" to civil society and infiltrate non-governmental organizations. This kind of thing happens every day For example, if the state releases resources to NGOs to accept government projects and use resources to purchase them, NGOs will not "have a hard time" with the government; Or use legal preferential treatment to protect the status of NGOs, so as to include NGOs. In Europe, there is a special term called "corporatism" to refer to this situation. In northern Europe, for example, national legislation forces all workers to join trade union federations. Most labor welfare matters, wages, working conditions, etc. Guaranteed by negotiations between the trade union Federation and the government. However, the Federation of Trade Unions guarantees the stability of the labor force and will not engage in strikes and protests, so the country can rule stably. This is the truth of the so-called welfare state in Europe, especially in Northern Europe. Some people in Taiwan Province Province immediately shouted "Hallelujah" when they talked about the welfare state, as if they didn't know that the welfare state still had these dimensions. In addition to trade unions, many non-governmental organizations have also set up companies or networks. This kind of NGO is actually a G-NGO, which is beneficial to the government.

Enterprises will also absorb NGOs. Many NGOs are sponsored by enterprises and will not do anything that harms the profits of enterprises. When people's interests conflict with enterprises, they will shrink back and will not argue from the standpoint of civil society. For example, Nike will set up its own NGO to investigate working conditions, so as to downplay the criticism of Nike for profiteering with sweatshops. This kind of NGO is actually BR-NGOs, an NGO run by enterprises, which is run by enterprises.

Therefore, people who work in NGOs must know that NGOs actually have the nature of AGO, that is, organizations that oppose the government and have the nature of "anti-government". I don't mean anarchism, but maintaining the independent status of NGOs, which is different from the pursuit of rule and profit by the state and enterprises, but takes the needs of civil society as the first priority. NGO encourages people to participate in the big society, that is, to participate in public affairs. Only in this way can a so-called civil society be formed, with public concern as its attribution and encouraging everyone's vision, from local to whole, from small to large, which is civil society. In the eastern society, this spiritual connection happens to be the most lacking, which shows the importance of mobilizing NGOs in the eastern society.

[Edit this paragraph] Internationally renowned NGOs

Greenpeace: One of the most influential environmental NGOs in the world today. Since the United States 197 1 opposed the Alaska nuclear test base, Greenpeace has been known for its radicalism, tenacity and firmness.

Mé decins sans frontiè res: 197 1 was established in France, mainly composed of some medical aid volunteers, aiming at providing people with medical aid, especially disaster relief.

International Animal Welfare Foundation: established in 1969, with the aim of preventing cruelty to animals.

American Ford Foundation: Founded in 1936, it is one of the largest private foundations in the world. During the period of 1988, the Ford Foundation was one of the earliest international non-governmental organizations allowed by the China government to set up an office in China.

Save the Children UK: One of the largest international NGOs in the UK, founded in 19 19, is an important member of the International Save the Children Alliance. Save the Children UK is headquartered in London and has projects in more than 60 developing countries around the world.

Sasakawa Peace Foundation of Japan: Established in 1986, Sasakawa Peace Foundation and China International Friendship Association jointly established a Sino-Japanese friendly exchange fund with a total amount of/kloc-0.00 billion yen (about RMB 650 million), which is the largest special fund for friendly exchanges between Chinese and Japanese people so far.

[Edit this paragraph] Domestic well-known NGOs

friends of nature

On June 5th, 1993, several sponsors of Friends of Nature held the first spontaneous environmental seminar in China-"Linglong Garden Conference". 1March 3, 9941day, Friends of Nature was founded, marking the birth of the first non-governmental environmental protection organization registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China. The founders are Liang Congjie, Liang Xiaoyan and Wang. Among them, Professor Liang Congjie, member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and tutor of China Institute of Culture, is the president, and Professor Yang Dongping, an expert in social culture and education, is the vice president. Friends of nature support the government's policies, regulations and measures to protect the environment, and cooperate and supervise them as much as possible. In the past ten years, Friends of Nature has accumulated more than 8,000 members, including more than 3,000 active members and nearly 30 group members. Won the Philippine "Asian Environment Award", "Earth Award", "Giant Panda Award" and "Raymond Magsaysay Award" and other 15 domestic and international awards. Members from all over the world enthusiastically carry out various environmental protection work in the local area. Many members have won awards at all levels, and members of Friends of Nature have set up more than a dozen non-governmental organizations. After ten years of establishment and development, Friends of Nature has become an environmental NGO with good credibility and influence in China, and has made contributions to environmental protection and the development of civil society in China, becoming one of the landmark organizations.

Non-governmental organizations develop exchange networks. (organic) organic

NGOCN, initiated by two volunteers, was founded in 2005. It is one of the largest NGO communication platforms in China. Its purpose is to promote public participation in social services, build a civil society in China, provide a large number of information on NGO industry trends, recruitment and recruitment, and set up a grassroots public welfare support center in Kunming to support aspiring youth and grassroots organizations to participate in various NGO-related learning practices.

"Green River"

In order to promote and organize the natural ecological environment protection activities in the upper reaches of rivers, promote the development of civil natural ecological environment protection in China, improve the environmental awareness and ethics of the whole society, and strive to achieve the sustainable development of the social economy in this basin.

The main tasks of "Green River" are: organizing scientists, journalists and environmental protection groups at home and abroad to conduct a series of environmental scientific investigations in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River; Establish a natural ecological environment protection station at the source of the Yangtze River; Publishing publications, fine arts and audio-visual works that promote the protection of the ecological environment; Carry out mass environmental protection activities and international academic exchanges on ecological environmental protection.

The current activity of "Green Water" is the plan of "protecting the source of the Yangtze River and loving my nature".