Oman- Lack of funds, volunteers main hurdles for charity organisations

Date

8/11/2016 5:07:31 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat-

A number of charity organisations in the country feel that lack of funds and skilled volunteers are hampering their work.

Abdulrab al Yafai, chairman, Omani Bahja Orphan Society said, 'We don't have a steady income to support our programmes. Funds allocated by the Ministry of Social Development (RO4,000 per annum) are not even enough for paying the rent of our building.'

Elaborating on other challenges, Yafai said that MoSD is providing them with a programme to train volunteers since there is always a shortage of full-time staff. 'Shortage of skilled staff is a concern as volunteering societies are increasing. There are too many out there. Most don't even list the purpose of their organisation.'

Yahya Abdullah al Amri, president of Oman Association for the Disabled also agrees. Securing funding is a major challenge as prosthetic devices are expensive, he said.

'The Omani Women's Association gets RO10,000 as grant from the government whereas we only get RO4,000. Our expenses are more as prosthetic devices are expensive. We haven't got support from any other organisation except Oman LNG.'

Qais al Maqrashi, head of voluntary group, Sadda al Shabab, said most corporate firms prefer spending on celebrations and festivals. 'We often approach them for funds but our requests are turned down by most.'

A member of the Al Rahma Charity team, however, said that most charity organisations lack an effective system, a mission and vision and that is what the real challenge is. 'Most of these societies are non-governmental. They fail to offer lucrative and permanent jobs. Salary too is not competitive and there is no pension and social insurance system and so these organisations fail to attract skilled people.'

Besides funding, getting trained volunteers to implement the programmes are an obstacle, too, said Dr Wahid al Kharusi, president of the Oman Cancer Association.

A study titled, 'Difficulties and Obstacles for Volunteer Work', conducted in 2007 by Dr Rashid al Busaidi from the social work department at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) states lack of funds is a hurdle for voluntary works. Other challenges include lack of educational and media awareness and lack of an effective system in these organisations.

Another study conducted in 2014 by Dr Majdi Mustafa from the social work department at SQU, shows that 75 per cent of volunteers believed that charitable organisations face a lot of challenges.

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