Kimse Yok Mu named one of world’s best 100 NGOs
Turkish charity organization Kimse Yok Mu has been named one of the world's best NGOs by Swiss non-profit group Global_Geneva, the charity has announced.
Jean-Christophe Nothias, editor of the Global_Geneva list of Top 500 NGOs, called Kimse Yok Mu a member of the “Ivy League” of nonprofits, according to a statement from Kimse Yok Mu on Friday.
Global_Geneva has recently announced the publication of the 2015 edition of the Top 500 NGOs, the international ranking of the world's top nongovernmental organizations. Kimse Yok Mu is one of the 22 new entries to the top 100 in 2015, and the first Turkish NGO to be listed among the 100.
Kimse Yok Mu President İsmail Cingöz welcomed the news of the NGO's place on the list but added that now that it has been confirmed that the organization is one of the top 100 NGOs in 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, namely 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 were also highlighted, according to the statement.
“Kimse Yok Mu counts as one of the very good surprises of the 2015 ranking,” Nothias was quoted as saying in the Kimse Yok Mu statement. “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 nonprofit sector … The mix of activities handled by Kimse Yok Mu makes it an in-depth and valuable player when taking action to the field,” he said.
“There is no doubt from our scoring that Kimse Yok Mu belongs to the nonprofit 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 domestically by the government, which launched a war on the Gülen or Hizmet movement, inspired by the ideas of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Last year the government abruptly decided to rescind the right of Kimse Yok Mu, which is affiliated with the Gülen movement, to collect charitable donations. The decision was subsequently overturned by the Council of State, which issued an injunction on the government decision, saying it contravened the law.
The organization has had many of its rights as a charity revoked by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) due to its affiliation with the Gülen movement, ever since corruption investigations implicating government members went public in December 2013. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan holds the movement responsible for the investigations, which implicated some of his inner political circle and family members.
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