Govt asked to sustain NGO programmes amid donor funding cuts

The government has been urged to take greater responsibility for sustaining community programmes implemented by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as donor funding continues to shrink.

Dr Patrick Kagurusi, the Country Manager of Amref Health Africa in Uganda, said the impact of development programmes should not disappear when NGOs leave, but instead be integrated into government systems and supported with domestic resources.

“The world has changed and the dynamics are different. Nobody will give you a cow and come to your home and say, let me look after the cow for you. People are giving cows and going away, for you to take over. So it is now time to start thinking of new ways of financing health,” Dr Kagurusi said.