Questions On C.O.R.S.O.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31087, 16 June 1966, Page 8

Questions On C.O.R.S.O.

The Council of Organisations for Relief Service Overseas is the sponsor of Saturday’s national collection for the Freedom from Hunger Campaign. The integrity and efficiency of C.0.R.5.0. is well established although its painstaking methods of work to ensure that the best results are obtained for its efforts are not wodely known. In an interview with the national secretary of C.0.R.5.0. (the Rev. H. C. Dixon) “The Press” obtained these answers to questions about C.0.R.5.0.’s handling of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign.

This is C.OJLS.O.’s twenty-second year of operation and the fifth in which it has sponsored the Freedom from Hunger Campaign which was conceived in the United Nations. Why was C.OJt.S.O. chosen to manage the giving of this aid to people in other countries?

The campaign was suggested by the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1958; it was approved by the F.A.O. council and the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1960. New Zealand voted in favour in both cases. In most other countries Governments which voted in favour of the campaign created national committees. In New Zealand the Government asked C.0.R.5.0. to handle the campaign. Why is this arrangement to be preferred to Government grants made directly from taxation and to administration by a State department? Is it less cumbersome, less expensive, more direct in its application of aid?

The essentially more personal approach not only gives aid at the point of need but it also does much to build up a climate of opinion in both the giving and receiving countries. Deep personal issues are involved in receiving aid. It is not easy to help

people without humiliating them, to be generous without being patronising. InterGovernmental aid is of necessity more impersonal and is in danger of having strings attached to it. No Government is very willing to increase taxation to give aid if this might be unpopular. It is part of our function to create an awareness of need overseas so that the Government will be encouraged to maintain and increase its own programme.

Forty-five organisations are members of C.0.R.5.0. Who makes the policy of C.0.R.5.0. and how are the projects selected?

The 45 organisations appoint representatives to the C.0.R.5.0. council. This appoints an executive which governs activities and sets the policy. The Government nominates the chairman and audits the books. A projects sub-committee examines all projects submitted to C.0.R.5.0. and to the Freedom from Hunger Campaign. The projects are nominated by F.A.0., U.N.1.C.E.F., the United Nations High Commission for. Refugees and nonGovernment organisations such as the World Council of Churches, Catholic Relief Services, the Save the Children Fund, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., etc.

Whose advice is sought on the adoption of projects?

Advice is sought from the Department of External Affairs, the Department of Agriculture and New Zealand officials serving overseas. No project is ever adopted without ascertaining that it is viable, that it fits into national development plans. What checks are made on the progress and fulfilment of projects? We require assurance that adequate reports will be given and this is always done. They vary widely but they include written reports, photographs, and official documents from United Nations agencies. Visits to the projects by New Zealanders travelling or resident in the country are usually possible. Other campaign committees inform us of progress. What was the total budget of the campaign last year, and the total value of grants and goods that C.0.R.5.0. dispensed?

We worked for a total minimum budg. of £400,000, plus £1,200,000 of material aid. We raised £352,000 in money. We sent overseas almost £1,200,000 worth of material aid. We made grants during the year of "241,000 to Freedom from Hunger Campaign and other C.0.R.5.0. projects. Since the end of the year we have paid out a further £lOl,OOO. We will not pay out until the work has started and usually make progress payments as the work proceeds. It means a time lag; but the money is more securely spent that way.

How much money was required for the salaries of C.0.R.5.0. employees, administration costs, packing, shipping and other expenses?

We have always counted our income as consisting of money plus the value of goods given. Our staff is involved in both the raising of money and the collecting, packing and shipping of clothes. If we did not deal with clothes we could get by with a much smaller staff and much smaller premises. If we take the overall income at £1,500,000 then our administration costs took just over three per cent. If we take cash income only—which I think is not correct—then our administration costs are about nine per cent of cash income. We employ a staff of 23 people; salaries amount to about £27,ooo—for virtually unlimited hours of work; shipping costs nearly £28,000 a year; publicity about £lB,OOO.

How many New Zealanders do you estimate engage voluntarily in C.0.R.5.0.’s work? This must be a guess. We estimate that not fewer than 100,000 people are involved in a greater of or less degree,

counting those who assist in the offices, collect and count money, drive cars, mend and pack clothes. Do you ever feel that what New Zealand can do to assist needy people abroad amounts to a small drop in a very large bucket?

This is something that everyone who has seen the need overseas or reads reports with imagination must always feel. Our aid must be small compared with the need. That does not mean it is unimportant. Where the drop lands it is of great importance. In Calcutta, in 1963, I realised that we could spend £1 million and hardly see what we had done. Then I went to orphanages and clinics and saw what half a ton of milk powder, or a bale of clothes or a few hundred pounds could mean in specific cases. When we think of specific people in specific need—and all our programme works on this basis—then anything we can do is significant. After all, sufficient drops will fill even a large bucket, and, if you are dying of thirst, a few drops of water can be pretty good. The Agricultural College in Western Samoa is one of the newer projects adopted by C.0.R.5.0. What decided you to support this?

I have just returned from Samoa where I went as the guest of the Government to attend and speak at the opening of the college. We were asked for support by our External Affairs Department which had a request from the South Pacific Commission, F.A.0., the United Nations Special Assistance Fund and Technical Assistance Board which co-ordinates assistance to under-developed countries. We were told of the need to increase food production, the need to diversify crops, and of the famine that would be rife within 10 years. We had reports from the South Pacific Commission and Dr. Burns of Lincoln College. It seemed to us that this was something we should do as a South Pacific country with special responsibility in Western Samoa. We could anticipate hunger instead of trying to catch up with it as in India. The expert reports and a visit there by myself in 1964 at the request and cost of the New Zealand Government left me in no doubt about the need. How is money being spent there? The £BO,OOO we gave was spent on buildings, an administration block lecture rooms, dormitories and staff houses. All the buildings are now complete and open. I am certain that the hurricane in January confirms to the hilt the rightness of what we did. Students will come from all over the South Pacific to be trained in modem methods of tropical agriculture.

To what extent does the Government supervise or guide the management of funds?

It has never attempted to control our work, but has regarded us as a true community organisation doing a job which, if done by someone else, would probably need greater Government assistance. On our side, we always consult External Affairs, especially on the political aspects of what we are doing. We have never wanted to follow a different line and I think it would be foolish to go against expert advice. The departments of External and Internal Affairs appoint observers to our executive, but our committee is completely autonomous.