Nongovernmental organizations work with the government to deliver vital services to those in need.
Founded in 1981 as Taiwan’s first nongovernmental organization (NGO) specializing in search and rescue (SAR) operations, the International Headquarters SAR Taiwan comprises more than 3,700 active members at 97 branches across the nation. Working in cooperation with central and local government response teams, the group provides emergency assistance after natural disasters, including earthquakes, floods and typhoons, in addition to supporting SAR operations in mountainous areas and at sea.
Based in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City, the NGO has participated in more than 30 rescue missions over the past three years. It also maintains two international response teams, and has dispatched members to major disaster zones following the 2008 cyclone in Myanmar, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
The International Headquarters SAR Taiwan is the largest service NGO of its kind in the nation’s thriving third sector, a term used to describe organizations belonging neither to the public nor private sectors concerned with advancing social goals. According to the Ministry of the Interior, there are more than 50,000 NGOs in Taiwan. Roughly 90 percent of these are estimated to function chiefly as service providers. The funding models of the organizations vary, with some relying primarily on private contributions and others receiving considerable government support.
Rescue workers from the International Headquarters SAR Taiwan pull a child from a collapsed building after an earthquake struck southern Taiwan’s Tainan City in February 2016. (Photo courtesy of International Headquarters SAR Taiwan)
According to Lu Cheng-tsung (呂正宗), founder and commandant of the International Headquarters SAR Taiwan, the majority of his group’s funding comes from annual membership fees. This is supplemented by donations of money, services and supplies from charities, private enterprises and hospitals in the event of large-scale disasters. For instance, Taiwan-based airlines often provide free flights to aid its international relief efforts.
The organization’s financial independence is a point of pride for Lu and its members. “If the gas for a fire engine mission costs NT$3,000 [US$97], we just find, say, 15 of our members to pay NT$200 [US$6.50] each,” he said. “Our focus is on getting out there and making a difference.”
A former military officer responsible for mountain operations and survival training, Lu founded the NGO during a period when the government typically tasked private groups or individuals such as mountaineering clubs or aboriginal guides with conducting rescue operations in inaccessible terrain. However, there were significant problems with this approach, including a lack of regulatory oversight and the high cost of compensating private rescue parties, Lu said, adding that his group has never asked for any recompense for its efforts.
Initially, the organization was mostly composed of retired military personnel such as Lu who had acquired SAR skills during their national service. However, in recent years, it has sought to increase its effectiveness by adding professionals from diverse fields. Lu noted, for instance, that architects and construction engineers can provide lifesaving insights in many urban rescue scenarios, such as when individuals are trapped under a collapsed building following an earthquake.
During major operations of this kind, sometimes local politicians rather than SAR specialists end up making critical decisions concerning when to allow excavators in to remove debris, for example. According to Lu, in such situations, the government should take advantage of the diverse expertise in Taiwan’s well-developed third sector. “Rather than acting as the exclusive authority, the government should foster true public-private partnerships,” he said.
Illustrator Huang Ya-ling, center, who comes from a family that received assistance from the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families, draws alongside young visitors at an exhibition of her work last February in the central city of Taichung. (Photo courtesy of TFCF)
Care and Recovery
Similar to the International Headquarters SAR Taiwan, the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) offers vital aid to disaster victims. Its focus, however, is not on immediate rescue but long-term recovery.
“We conducted a five-year project for communities affected by the Sept. 21, 1999, earthquake,” said CEO Betty Ho (何素秋), recalling TFCF’s relief efforts following the 7.6 magnitude temblor that claimed more than 2,400 lives in central Taiwan. In the aftermath of this tragedy, TFCF provided affected families with counseling and physical rehabilitation services, among other measures.
“Helping people in these situations is not just about giving them money,” said Ho, who was among the first social workers licensed in Taiwan under the 1997 Social Worker Act. “It’s more about providing them with access to professional social work services.”
Headquartered in Taichung, TFCF traces its origins to an orphanage established by a U.S.-headquartered Christian charity in the central Taiwan city in 1950. The NGO, which relies primarily on money raised from the private sector, provides financial aid and counseling services to children and families through its 24 centers and 13 affiliated organizations across Taiwan and its outlying islands. The group also operates five facilities abroad in Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Swaziland and Vietnam, and plans to set up two more in Laos and Myanmar.
To date, TFCF has provided assistance to more than 250,000 people in Taiwan and overseas. In addition, during the late 1980s it was one of the first NGOs in the country to help abused children by offering support services and placing victims with foster families.
Children learn how to grow crops as part of a TFCF community program in Swaziland. (Photo courtesy of TFCF)
A campaign by TFCF and similar groups led to amendments to the nation’s child welfare laws in the early 1990s and eventually the promulgation of the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act in 2011. The group continues to lobby and participate in government policymaking on child and family welfare issues.
Ho is currently among seven NGO representatives on a committee set up by the Cabinet to monitor the nation’s progress in implementing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the Legislature May 20, 2014, and took effect Nov. 20 of that year. Also comprising 14 government officials, academics and experts, the committee seeks to supervise and coordinate efforts by various government units to conform to the convention.
Independence and Impartiality
Government trust in and support for the third sector are exemplified by the nation’s legal aid system. In Taiwan, responsibility for providing representation and services to people who lack financial means lies with the Legal Aid Foundation (LAF), formed in 2004 under the Legal Aid Act.
While about 80 percent of its annual budget comes from the Judicial Yuan, the nation’s highest judicial body, the LAF operates independently of the government. According to Chen Wei-shyang (陳為祥), the foundation’s CEO, this situation is ideal since it ensures stable funding for services while promoting fairness and protecting the legal rights of the underprivileged.
“Instead of setting up an administrative organ for legal aid, the government made the landmark decision to award funding to an NGO,” Chen said. “This was the correct move since it has enabled us to focus on serving our clients.”
Legal Aid Foundation lawyers and clients celebrate victory in an industrial pollution case in April 2015 in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City. (Photo courtesy of LAF)
The LAF operates chapters in 21 of the 22 district court jurisdictions in Taiwan. Plans are underway to open an office later this year in the remaining area, Ciaotou of southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City, a new district court jurisdiction established in September 2016.
According to the latest foundation statistics, LAF teams handled 46,368 court cases and provided consultation services in a further 90,641 legal cases in 2015. Some 3,000 of the roughly 8,000 practicing lawyers in Taiwan have argued in court or provided consultations for the group.
Over time, the government has moved to strengthen the foundation’s autonomy, as demonstrated by extensive amendments to the Legal Aid Act promulgated in July 2015. Among other measures, the makeup of the 13-member LAF board was adjusted, with the number of government officials and legal appointees both reduced by one to four and three, respectively. These spots were freed up to add a labor delegate and increase to two the positions for representatives of disadvantaged groups. The number of spots for academics and indigenous representatives remained unchanged at two and one, respectively.
In addition, the revisions also provide people from low-income households and indigenous groups with greater access to legal aid services. “We recognize our responsibility to provide effective services to the underprivileged as part of broader efforts in Taiwan to strengthen the social safety net,” Chen said.
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw