Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
| ||||||||||||
Scholar Pushes For More NGOs Across Taiwan -Global Policy Forum- NGOs Scholar Pushes For More NGOs Across Taiwan
Taiwan News
July 31, 2002
With Taiwan lacking prominence in the international community, it is both feasible and important to have more non-government organizations in Taiwan, said Chen Lung-chu, chairman of Taiwan New Century Foundation.
Addressing the opening of the NGO Summer Forum yesterday, Chiu Hei-yuan, faculty member of the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica, highlighted the importance of NGOs in relation to social change and progress in Taiwan in his speech at the forum.
In the 1980s, a few social movements and social groups emerged, then later played a very essential role in Taiwan's democratic cultivation and development, Chiu pointed out. "Taiwan's future lies in the hands of Taiwan's NGOs - organizations that promise a future of a well-formed civilized society," Chiu said.
"Under the trend of globalization and the prosperous development of democracy in Taiwan, an internal force coming from Taiwan's civilized society is emerging and growing," Chen explained, who is also an adviser to President Chen Shui-bian .
The chairman continued by saying that the essential issue now is how to encourage more of Taiwan's NGOs to join the international community.
Chen said that "NGOs should seeking cooperation and alliance with other NGOs to consolidate their agendas." However, Lin Fang-mei (LU'), chairperson of the National Youth Commission, under the Executive Yuan, pointed out that with more opportunities, Taiwan's NGO's are also facing challenges in a society with rapid social change.
When the government tries to downsize its administrative body "under the idea of 'small government, big society,' Taiwan's NGOs are in fact given both opportunities as well as challenges," Lin said.
The challenges, Lin explained, include the difficulties for the organizations to set up their own agenda as opposed to following plans set up by the government.
Also, managing NGOs is a challenge in and of itself, she added.
Chiu argued that one problem for many NGOs in Taiwan is that they are poorly managed and therefore, are not capable of actively establishing their own agenda.
"Besides, finance has been a problem for many NGOs. NGOs can elicit money from some private companies and also the government. But it is important for these NGOs to maintain their autonomy after the money is raised," Chiu emphasized.
More Information on NGOs and States
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
