The trials of a new Zambian NGO

On Wednesday, after a long and drawn-out process, the Zambia Foundation for Landmine Survivors (ZAFLAS) was formally registered with the Registrar of Societies. Pictured above, founding chairman Yona Phiri smiles with his long sought-after certificate.

Attempts to register ZAFLAS date back to months before I even arrived in Zambia. Yona and his colleagues were frustrated by a total lack of government support given to landmine survivors or disabled persons more generally. Just to receive official status as a landmine survivor, Yona fought patiently and persistently for several years, visiting and revisiting government and police officials who expressed no interest in his plight – indeed, who were concerned that granting Yona status would open the floodgates for new requests and end up burdening state resources.

Remarkably, and with support from friends like my supervisor Dr. Bob, Yona was formally recognized as a landmine survivor, although to this day he remains the only one in the country with such status. Lack of will and resources have prevented the government agency concerned with landmines from conducting a national survey of victims. Despite Zambia’s ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, there has been little action on demining and even less on survivor assistance.

Yona is not the only landmine survivor in Zambia. There are hundreds more, though no one really knows how many. Yona set up ZAFLAS to find out. Among other things, his goals are to register new landmine survivors and give them a voice in his organization.

Shortly after I arrived in Zambia, I met Yona and other founding members (and wrote about it here). I admired their cause, and saw the value in establishing a civil society organization to complement and keep in check the work of the governmental Zambia Mine Action Centre. Their obstacle at the time was the million Kwacha (around US$300) fee required to register with the Registrar of Societies. I set out to raise what they still lacked of this amount through small donations from family and friends.

Over the last two months, I have worked with ZAFLAS to get them registered, and witnessed the formidable hurdles that prevent grassroots NGOs from starting up in Zambia.

In addition to the registration fee, Yona and his colleagues were confronted by countless unexpected obstacles – police checks, city council approval, endorsement letters, and on and on, each with additional costs ($30 here, $50 there). Every new requirement meant a day or more of bus and taxi fares; many founding members are disabled, making transportation difficult and costly. With anticipation of a small grant from Mines Action Canada – which was confirmed last week! – and contributions from family and friends, I was able to support ZAFLAS financially to the end. Without my privileged flow of funds, I cannot imagine how Yona would have raised the registration fee, to say nothing of the hundreds more dollars in additional fees and transportation costs.

One could perhaps argue that this obstacle course of a registration process ensures the integrity of organizations that finally do register. By necessitating sacrifices and investments from the get-go, the number of half-hearted, inefficient organizations is reduced. I am confident that ZAFLAS will not be one of these failure cases, in part because of how hard they’ve worked already.

On the other hand, without my serendipitous arrival, ZAFLAS would not exist as it does now. Do the roundabout requirements for registration actually reward hard work, or just deep pockets and timely connections? Yona met me partly because of his previous dedication – in fighting for his rights as a disabled person and landmine survivor, Yona made contacts with the people who eventually put us in touch. Yet it’s quite plausible that we would never have met, and the Zambia Foundation for Landmine Survivors, despite the remarkable dedication of its members and worthiness of its cause, would still not be registered.

Regardless of how it happened, I’m happy ZAFLAS is now registered. In supporting the organization financially, I was careful to reflect on issues of financial dependency that were drilled into me over four years of academic study. Yona and I often spoke about trying to avoid dependency relationships, knowing that my limited funds would only take ZAFLAS so far. Yona works hard to instill the concept of personal sacrifice in fellow members. To make sure that members feel a stake in the organization, Yona is strict about collecting the measly membership fees, even though they’ll seem inconsequential after ZAFLAS receives its first grant.

Now that ZAFLAS is registered, their struggle has only just begun. It may seem like they’re in over their heads – in a cut-throat development world of computers and Internet, ZAFLAS has neither knowledge of computers nor the resources to learn. What they do have is an inspiring leader and a diverse team supporting him. Fortunately, there are prospects for collaborations between ZAFLAS and bigger organizations – both the Zambia Mine Action Centre and major Norwegian disability stakeholders are planning projects we hope ZAFLAS can play a part in.

I am confident and excited about the coming months. While I realize more than ever that development can be a nasty game of money and cold calculation, it doesn’t have to be that way. I hope for the sake of disabled people all over Zambia that Yona’s new organization is successful.