Ms Koirala, congratulations

We wholeheartedly congratulate Founder and Chairperson of Maiti Nepal Anuradha Koirala for being named CNN Hero 2010 for her relentless and tireless fight against trafficking and sexual exploitation of Nepali women. That a Nepali national was voted ahead of many other deserving candidates from across the world indeed gives us a very good reason to be happy in these otherwise trying times. Ms Koirala’s non-governmental organization (NGO) has indeed done a commendable job since nearly two decades and the award is a fitting recognition of that.

But, unfortunately, awards do not always give a complete picture of the recipients, be it an individual or an organization, and that is sadly true when it comes to Maiti Nepal and Ms Koirala as well. If awards reflected the reality as it is, the world would never have been divided into two camps when the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo this year and Barack Obama last year. That said we are not taking anything away from Ms Koirala. She has done a fantastic job so far. Our only feeling is that she surely could have traveled this distance a bit differently.

One issue that is synonymous with Ms Koirala and her NGO is the lack of financial transparency. Maiti Nepal is a mammoth NGO and the fund that it receives is evidently quite huge. But there are allegations that the organization’s fund is not managed transparently. In fact, this issue is not isolated to Maiti Nepal. This is a problem with almost all the NGOs of Nepal. Besides, much like the hundreds and thousands of NGOs in the country, Maiti Nepal is also not considered free from nepotism, favoritism and cronyism.

After receiving the award Ms Koirala was quoted as saying: “I feel this award has added more responsibility on my shoulders.” It certainly has! Now that the global recognition will ensure further flow of funds to her NGO, it has become even more pressing for her to make her NGO financially transparent so that accusing fingers are not pointed toward her. In fact, we believe, that this award has given her the leverage to lead a movement in the country to make the NGO’s transparent and accountable. If she can do that besides continuing her commendable fight against trafficking and sexual exploitation, she will have done enough to justify this international recognition.

Congratulations once again for highlighting a burning problem of the country in the midst of the international community and for making Nepal proud

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