Sitting allowance

NGOs get topnotch consultants

In a previous post (September 2011), I described how Gulu became an NGO town.  A recent visitor from the UK said that he wanted to come to Gulu to see for himself the parade of 4 x 4s used by

NGOs work hard

international NGOs.  He wasn't disappointed; SUVs are the vehicles of choice here considering the poor state of the

Sign-up and be counted

roads.  Part of development work entails training of beneficiaries, and what's typical is that they are not only educated but they get paid too, to attend the training.  It used to be called a sitting allowance, but

Participants at work

because it had a bad connotation, some NGOs now openly announce the payment of transportation reimbursement and/or

Lunch line-up

lunch allowance.  A commotion arose once when an NGO decided to categorize the transportation reimbursement based on the distance from the work station to the venue of the workshop.  The participants affected complained that there should be no such distinction, and the NGO relented for fear that next time, they will no longer attract good attendance.  Some big men and women register for these workshops, disappear the whole time (perhaps to go back to work), and return to have lunch and/or collect the

Disappeared seatmates

allowance. This can happen anywhere in the world, but in a place where development partners stoke the local economy, you just see too many ways of how donors' funds are put to use - some small time, others big time. No reason to  rock the boat because the paperwork is in order.

Reimbursement queue.  Thanks for attending. 

I read a joke that goes, when you throw a stone in Nigeria, it will definitely hit a university graduate.  When you  throw a stone in Gulu, it will hit an NGO. (P.S.  The joke is about population density.)