Amidst directives issued by the authorities to register all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with the National Secretariat for NGOs, the number of NGOs registering with the Secretariat has seen a considerable increase.

The Secretariat has received over 160 applications within the course of last year (2024), while over 90 organisations had obtained registration in the same period. Noting that the year 2024 saw the highest number of organisation registrations in the Secretariat’s history, sources at the Secretariat told The Daily Morning that this includes both new organisations and organisations that had been operating without registering with the secretariat.

This development comes in a context where, on several occasions in the recent past, the authorities urged NGOs to register with the secretariat under the Voluntary Social Services Organisations Act. At present, a large number of NGOs are operating as entities registered under various other laws including the Companies Act. Authorities had raised concerns regarding this in terms of difficulties in monitoring and regulation which are also connected to money laundering-related concerns. 

The latest directive from the Secretariat came last month (December 2024), making it mandatory for all local and foreign NGOs to register.