Kimse Yok Mu one of world’s best 100 NGOs

Turkish charity organization Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has been named by Swiss non-profit group Global_Geneva as one of the world's best NGOs, the charity has announced.

“Kimse Yok Mu belongs to the non profit international Ivy league,” Jean-Christophe Nothias, the editor of the Global_Geneva Top 500 NGOs, said in remarks carried in a statement from Kimse Yok Mu on Friday.

Global_Geneva has recently announced the publication of the 2015 edition of theTop 500 NGOs, the international ranking of the world's top non-governmental organizations that has been in the making for four years. Kimse Yok Mu, one of the 22 new entries to the top tier in 2015, has thus become the first Turkish NGO to be listed among the best 100.

Kimse Yok Mu President İsmail Cingöz welcomed the news but added that now that it has been confirmed that it is one of the top 100 NGOs of the world, Kimse Yok Mu's job has become more difficult. "We will continue our activities in a manner appropriate to this trust [bestowed on us],” he said.

Global_Geneva monitors the international non-profit community for ideas, values, and models that challenge normal approaches to policy, the market, and NGO activity. A key monitoring tool is the Top 500 NGOs ranking. It ranks Top 500 NGOs around the world according to specific criteria, which are impact, innovation and sustainability.

According to Global_Geneva, Kimse Yok Mu's high scores for impact and sustainability paved the way for success. Its independence, transparency and innovation was also highlighted, according to the statement.

“Kimse Yok Mu counts as one of the very good surprises of the 2015 ranking,” said Nothias. “Looking at the three major criteria which are Impact, Innovation and Sustainability, it should be noted that Kimse Yok Mu scored very well in terms of innovation. This is due to the fact that Kimse Yok Mu handles a very large spectrum of operations, from education, health, development to humanitarian aid. Such a spectrum is something rather unusual in the global non profit sector … The mix of activities handled by Kimse Yok Mu makes it an in-depth and valuable player when taking action to the field.”

“There is no doubt from our scoring that Kimse Yok Mu belongs to the non profit international Ivy league,” Nothias also said, adding that the charity has also gained respect for its “independence and transparency efforts.”

“We, as Kimse Yok Mu are active in 113 countries and continue our activities regardless of the religion, language or race of the people in need,” said Cingöz. “It's an important [source of] motivation for us to enter the top 100 NGOs list due to our innovative approaches, effective and sustainable relief activities and independent, transparent and innovative structure.”

Among the highest ranked NGOs of 2015 are Oxfam, Islamic Relief International and Save The Children from Britain, Acumen, Partners In Health and World Vision of the US, MSF (Doctors without Borders) of France and the Danish Refugee Council of Denmark.

Kimse Yok Mu, Turkey's only aid organization that holds UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) special consultative status, was targeted by the government at home which launched a war on the Gülen movement, or Hizmet, inspired by ideas of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Last year, the government abruptly decided to rescind the right of Kimse Yok Mu, affiliated with Hizmet, to collect charitable donations. The decision was subsequently overturned by the Council of State, which issued a stay of execution on the government decision, saying it's against the law.

The organization has had many of its rights as a charity revoked by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) since corruption investigations went public in December 2013, due to its affiliation with the Gülen movement. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan holds the movement responsible for the investigations, which implicated some of his inner political circle and family members.

Published on Today's Zaman, 07 February 2015, Saturday