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This article provides information about the Emerging Roles of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) in the Grassroots Development Practices in India !
Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) have emerged as important civil society actors at the grassroots. So far as the developmental activities are concerned.
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The non-governmental organisations or the private voluntary organisations are basically non-profit making bodies whose primary aim is to contribute to the reduction of human sufferings and the development of the poor and the marginalised groups. They are an integral part of both the national and global civil society as they include both local communities, cooperatives, church groups, trade unions, environment groups and consumer associations, women’s groups, peasant leagues, as well as international organisations like Amnesty International, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, etc.
These organisations are best known for their relief, educational, lobbying, human rights, health, employment generation, and poverty reduction activities. They are growing at a very fast rate in the developing parts of the world due to the increasing disillusionment especially of the poor with the government. The market has also failed to serve the interests of these vulnerable sections of the population. As a result many hopes have been placed on the NGOs, also known as the “third sector”.
NGOs are conceptualised as non-profit and nongovernmental organisations. Anheier and Salaman highlight some of the common characteristics of NGOs. According to them NGOs are:
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i. Organisations, i.e., they have an institutional presence and structure; the state;
ii. Non-profit distributing, i.e., they do not return profits to their managers or to a set of owners;
iii. Self-governing, i.e., they are fundamentally in – control of their own affair; and
iv. Voluntary, i.e., membership in them is not legally ‘ required and they attract some level of voluntary contribution of time or money.
It is significant that the element of private is to be understood in a very limited sense. It means that NGOs are neither part of the government apparatus and public administration nor are they dominated by public officials. Nor are they a private enterprise to earn profit. Indeed they have the social objective of providing selfless service to the millions, especially in those areas of activity where the state has either not been able to reach out, or has not been effective in providing service as per the local requirement and has withdrawn. At times the state has looked for collaborative arrangement with the NGOs to provide much needed service to the people, especially to the marginalised section of society.
Paul Streeten after examining the functioning of the NGOs in the developing societies, claims that NGOs have certain advantages in promoting development at the grassroots. This is mostly because of the fact that:
i. NGOs are good for reaching and mobilising the poor and remote communities.
ii. NGOs are participatory in their approach and follow a ‘bottom up’ strategy for the implementation of projects at the grassroots.
iii. They are more innovative, flexible and experimental than the government’s agencies.
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iv. The NGOs’ projects are cost effective and efficient.
v. The NGOs promote sustainable development.
vi. They are potentially organising and representative bodies in civil societies.
However, there has been a wide gap between the ideal image of NGOs and their modes of functioning at the grassroots. Indeed, the ideal-typical image of the NGOs has been widely demystified by several researchers. It has been pointed out that even though the NGOs work in the name of the poor, in effective terms they reinforce the rule of the power elite, incur a higher administrative cost, impose an autocratic, top down and non-participatory approach to development. Again, NGOs are not financially independent.
As most of the NGOs flourished under a charismatic leadership or are a body of dedicated workers, many of the project, collapse with the disappearance of such leaders and workers. It has also been pointed out that NGOs have no clear-cut objectives that they suffer from the problems of sustainability, and non- replicability; and being small they reach only a few people in developing countries. They fail to reach 80% of the 1.3 billion estimated to be living in extreme poverty. Even the much publicised Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, often cited as a model NGO, accounts for only 0.15% of national credit and all NGOs in Bangladesh together provide only 0.6% of total Credit.
It is important to mention that NGOs are to work in a context and to interact with various forces. They are largely dependent on the government and the international agencies for funds. They are also to interact with the local level politicians. At times their plans and programmes are framed, modified and executed under the influence of these politicians.
NGOs’ activities are also conditioned by localised culture and values of the marginalised people among whom they are working.