Title: The politics of services subcontracting to NGOs in China
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: CONTEXT OF RESEARCH This research investigates how, why and with what consequences the Chinese government procures welfare services from NGOs through sub-contracting. Governmental sub-contracting of welfare services from NGOs has become commonplace in many Western countries. However, in the case of China this is a new endeavour. Following the introduction of market-oriented reforms in 1978 the old system and institutions of welfare began to break down. Since the mid-1990s the Chinese government has begun systematically to reform the welfare system in health, pensions, and social security, mainly in urban areas and more recently in rural. The need to expand welfare provider capacity to address a burgeoning range of increasingly complex welfare needs has led the Chinese government to look for non-state alternatives to welfare provision such as the private sector and NGOs. However, a key obstacle to expanding NGO provision was the restrictive regulatory framework, which required NGOs to identify two government sponsors. After five years of experimentation, in July 2012 the Ministry of Civil Affairs changed the framework to enable certain types of NGOs to register directly with it, waiving the need for a second government sponsor. It thus gave the go-ahead to local governments across the country to roll out service procurement from NGOs. These developments are significant because relations between the Chinese government and NGOs have often been tense, particularly regarding rights-based and advocacy groups perceived as a risk to social stability. Yet NGO-state relations are clearly pivotal to the effective implementation of this regulatory shift which could not just expand provider capacity but also promote a more relaxed political climate for NGOs in general. Getting NGO-state policies right in these sub-contracting arrangements is thus central to building effective NGO-state relations and balancing expanded welfare provision with stability concerns. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES There is little evidence to date on how these new sub-contracting arrangements affect welfare provision or NGO-state relations. So this project aims to fill this gap by investigating how the sub-contracting process unfolds on the ground, why NGOs and local governments co-operate to deliver services through sub-contracting, and how this affects provider capacity and the development of an NGO sector. The research has several objectives: a) To collect and analyse the laws, policies and contractual rules governing sub-contracting from NGOs in China nationally and in the selected sites, and gather information about the debates and arguments around this. b) To generate original empirical data on why local government officials and NGOs co-operate in these service delivery contracts, and how sub-contracting affects NGO operations and relations with the local state. c) At the policy and practical level, to highlight examples of best practice that can inform policy development in China and other similar contexts. d) To conceptualise the emerging models of sub-contracting and NGO-state relations and to advance theoretical understanding of welfare-state building and civil society development in China. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITS This research project has a number of potential benefits. First, it will fill a yawning gap in knowledge about how and with what consequences the sub-contracting of welfare services from NGOs in China is working out on the ground, about which there is currently a lack of evidence. Second, it will cast light on the particular challenges and opportunities of sub-contracting from NGOs in an authoritarian context. Third, it will throw up examples of best practice in terms of sub-contracting rules and NGO-state relations that can be usefully applied in other countries. Finally, it deepens understanding in the West of how the Chinese government is addressing concerns around welfare, NGO sector development and social stability.


Research activity codes: 8.3 POLICY, ETHICS AND RESEARCH GOVERNANCE
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE