Addressing the Agency Problem Among Ngos Dealing With Refugees in Kenya
Abstract
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play an important role in the
implementation of refugee programs not only in Kenya, but also in various parts
of the world and are involved in the disbursement of funds of a large
magnitude. For the effective delivery of services, NGOs, like other
organizations, have to minimize or eliminate the agency problem. This study,
therefore, attempts to indicate the importance of donors taking more precautions
in the selection of NGOs and to ensure that selected NGOs have adequate
checks or controls to guarantee the achievement of objectives.
The study was carried out not only on NGOs that received donor funds for
refugee programs in 2003, but also on organizations that made these donations
in the same period. Two structured questionnaires were administered to the
Finance Managers of the NGOs and the Programme Officers of the donor
agencies since their understanding of the issues involved could provide adequate
responses to the questionnaire. The data was analyzed using percentages,
frequency distributions and pie-charts.
The results indicated that some NGOs have no financial contribution to the
projects that they implement on behalf of donors. It was noted that most checks
by donors were through physical monitoring and management meetings while
financial audits and verifications were given comparatively less attention. The
study also showed that NGOs do participate in the preparation of the budgets for
Citation
MBASponsorhip
University of NairobiPublisher
University of Nairobi School of Business, College of Humanities and Social Sciences