Monday, October 20, 2014

Non government or non plussed

Hard to fathom that something that started with a Council of Five could expand at a rate of twenty orgs a year over 150 years. That average may not reflect when the creation of NGOs was at its most active but it is still an expansion of note. How strict are the criteria? Are we seeing national representatives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent listed or are these discrete groups?

Would it be more effective if there were fewer organisations opposing alcohol or mopping up afterwards? Does it take one entity to align alcohol and nicotine with other substances and another to separate them out again? If they are cross purposes, who gets the money and why?

What are they trying to annexe? Or is anex something else?

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Sure got to shake it up NGO

AID/WATCH does a good job of defining what an Non Government Organisation is and tells us that, on last count, there are 3135 NGOs. That's too many to list and there are a number that are regional in nature, with repetition on a theme. I see quite a few dealing with drugs and others set up to combat human trafficking.

Here are just a few
These were chosen for their ability to be a representative sample. There are so many aids for AIDS and Africa has a cottage industry in ngo's. Tugging at your heart (or purse) strings through the use of children is only going to work until you're fully subscribed; the moreso if you have part of your pocket devoted to wildlife or wastewatch. 

Monday, October 06, 2014

Non Government Organisations

The first international organisation in the NGO category is the International Committee of the Red Cross founded in 1863. It is described as a private humanitarian organisation and has been given a charter to protect victims of armed conflicts. As the crowd contributed account has it, this includes the war wounded, prisoners, refugees, civilians and other non-combatants.

From his home in Geneva Henry Dunant wrote A Memory of Solferino, recounting the sights he'd witnessed of the wounded left in the field at the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Franco-Austrian War.

Dunant formed the "Committee of the Five", a investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, with Dunant, Gustave Moynier, Louis Appia, Theodore Maunoir, Guillaume-Henri Dufour.
It wasn't long before they had changed the name to the "International Committee for Relief of the Wounded"

A conference was held in the October to gauge measures for improving medical services on the battlefield. It was attended by 36 individuals. The kingdoms and nations represenated by official delegates were Baden, Bavaria, France, Britain, Hanover, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and Spain.
This led to the drawing up of the first Geneva Convention, for the "Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field"