Representatives from Citizen’s Congress Watch (CCW) and other groups yesterday urged the government to include non-profit and non-governmental organizations in its COVID-19 relief plans.
In last week’s review of a special COVID-19 relief budget in the Legislative Yuan, lawmakers focused on businesses and workers, CCW deputy chief executive officer Tien Chun-yang (田君陽) said.
The CCW and others hope that the government does not omit non-profit organizations and their workers from “Relief 4.0,” the next phase of the government’s COVID-19 relief package, he told an online news conference.
While the CCW tries not to take government subsidies, there are other charitable organizations that depend on them, CCW chief executive officer Chang Hung-lin (張宏林) said.
Hundreds of thousands of people work in non-profit organizations targeting social welfare, healthcare and environmental protection to human rights, animal protection and the arts, the CCW said in a statement.
At 30 percent, social services and charities account for most of the non-profits, it said.
“Non-profits are basically the last line of defense for social stability in Taiwan,” Chang said.
While the government is offering aid to businesses, it seems to have given non-profit organizations relatively little support for their work with disadvantaged people, he added.
With the nation under a level 3 COVID-19 alert for nearly a month, some of the issues faced by non-profit organizations are slowly taking shape, he said.
Last year, the Garden of Hope Foundation tried to apply for relief, but found the administrative procedures needed to apply for subsidies “very cumbersome,” foundation chief executive officer Wang Yueh-hao (王玥好) said.
As a medium-to-large-scale organization, the Garden of Hope Foundation spent a month or two completing the application, she said, adding that the application process must be “very difficult” for smaller groups.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s conditions for relief do not favor smaller advocacy groups, although service groups have a greater chance of success, she said.
During the pandemic, many animal protection groups have been unable to sustain regular activities, such as fundraising, rescuing stray animals and putting them up for adoption, Taiwan Animal Protection Monitor Network secretary-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said.
“The COVID-19 situation has put those groups under tremendous pressure,” he said.
Rent and personnel costs are the greatest expenditures for non-governmental organizations, he said, adding that the government should reassess its relief program amid the recent outbreak.
Most workers at non-profits do not have high salaries, although they have high ideals and serve as a driving force behind social progress, the CCW said.
It urged the government not to let groups that are helping the disadvantaged go without help themselves.
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