A case in point is the attempts to depict foreign financing as recruitment of spies as if there were no monitoring or criteria.
This way of thinking, however, neglects a golden rule in the civil society's work. The financing of any activity, symposium or even the publishing of a book or awareness-raising brochures falls within the framework of a project in which the objectives, activities, budget and timetable are clearly outlined.
Without all of the aforementioned, no foreign funding will be approved by the authorities concerned.
Based on the abovementioned criteria, the ministry of social solidarity, formerly the ministry of social affairs, may approve proposed projects by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) so they can obtain permits to cash money from banks.
But, if these NGOs are not registered as companies in accordance with the Egyptian law, then they will have to pay taxes on their activities that obtain spending from banks too.
This, in a nutshell, means that there can be no activities taking place in the society without having to be known in advance by Egyptian state institutions commensurate with the law and regulations.
No one can accurately say when foreign funding started, but certainly it had to do with the beginning of civil society's activities in Egypt.
According to history, the Suez Canal Company under British mandate had donated a sum of money to support the Muslim Brotherhood group when it was just emerging.
It is so different, however, now with donors that do not offer donation in principle as general policy because simply there are no rules governing activities or spending.
Accordingly, foreign finance, most of the cases, is done through programs and organizations affiliated to the governments of donors, considering the notion that it represents part of the taxes paid by citizens of those countries.
This requires the presence of rules and criteria regulating the process of financing, then monitoring the projects being financed through reports to evaluate what has already been carried out.
The bulk of donors worldwide do not impose preconditions on funding except within the general framework of the fields of activities like eradication of illiteracy, political awareness-raising or street kids.
Approval on funding takes place through creative, realistic solutions proposed to tackle these problems.
The majority of those Egyptian NGOs reject conditional funding from certain international well-known bodies on the grounds that it imposes certain detailed topics for activity tackling and implementing. Also, this type of funding raises suspicions that any Egyptian NGO accepting it definitely risks its reputation and professional credibility in the civil society world.
Most of the Egyptian NGOs resort to foreign funding for several reasons; one of them is that the Egyptian society does not believe in the culture of volunteering in the way it is very much accepted in European countries or the United States.
Consequently, the Egyptian civil society does not have young volunteers enough to carry out the activities of projects and programs due to unfavorable economic conditions and unemployment that does not provide enough time for voluntary work.
On the other hand, there is no culture of donations for the civil society organizations. Egyptians in general think that the only channel of donations is the religious establishment, Muslim or Christian, and other than this is needless.
The fact is that voluntary action and donations are two faces of the same coin, prompting the inclusion of the number of hours of voluntary action per week as one of the most important items of young men's CVs in the West.
The issue of foreign funding for NGOs in Egypt is raised seasonally depending on the political compass in the country, particularly during the time preceding parliamentary or presidential, and sometimes even local council, elections. Later on, the government's talk about this issue dwindles until the next elections.
One may notice that each time the hullabaloo about foreign funding is sparked the same things are discussed with some changes only on the outward, or in other words the media campaign, by targeting certain associations and figures.
Egyptian NGOs play an important role in sustaining the state institutions as to complete lack of services. It is enough to say that young people taking the lead on the field of change in Egypt now are the output of civil society's efforts.
العربية