Non-governmental organization

1. A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally constituted organization created

by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government

2. Is an independent voluntary association of people acting together on a continuous basis,

for some common purpose, other than achieving government
office, making money or illegal activities.

3. Are private organizations characterized primarily by humanitarian or cooperative, rather

than commercial, objectives… that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the
interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake
community development” in developing countries.

4. NGOs are defined by the World Bank as "private organizations that pursue activities to
relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide
basic social services, or undertake community development".

Terminology
1. The term (NGO) is usually applied only to organizations that pursue some wider social
aim that has political aspects, but that are not overtly political organizations such as
political parties.

2. Unlike the term "intergovernmental organization", the term "non-governmental

organization" has no generally agreed legal definition. In many jurisdictions, these types
of organization are called "civil society organizations" or referred to by other names.

3. term usually used by governments to refer to entities that have no government status. In
the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO
maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from
membership in the organization

4. Common usage varies between countries - for example NGO is commonly used for
domestic organizations in Australia that would be referred to as non-profit
organizations in the United States. Such organizations that operate on the international
level are fairly consistently referred to as "non-governmental organizations", in the
United States and elsewhere.

NB: - The number of internationally operating NGOs is estimated at 40,000. National numbers
are even higher: Russia has an estimated 277,000 NGOs while India is estimated to have
around 3.3 million NGOs.
- There is a growing movement within the non-profit organization/non-government sector
to define itself in a more constructive, accurate way.

The "non-profit" designation is seen to be particularly dysfunctional because of at least three

reasons:
1) It says nothing about the purpose of the organization, only what it is not;
2) It focuses the mind on "profit" as being the opposite of the organization's purpose;
3) It implies that the organization has few financial resources

Instead of being defined by "non-" words, organizations are suggesting new terminology to
describe the sector
1. Third Sector - has become prominent recently in relation to “public and private
sector”
2. Social benefit organization" (SBO) is being adopted by some organizations. This defines
them in terms of their positive mission.
3. Civil society organization" (CSO) has also been used by a growing number of
organizations, such as the Center for the Study of Global Governance.
4. Citizen sector organization" (CSO) has also been advocated to describe the sector — as
one of citizens, for citizens.
These labels, SBO and CSO, position the sector as its own entity, without relying on language
used for the government or business sectors. However, some have argued that CSO is not
particularly helpful, given that most NGOs are in fact funded by governments and business and
that some NGOs are clearly hostile to independently organized people’s organizations. The term
"social benefit organization" seems to avoid that problem, since it does not assume any
particular structure, but rather focuses on the organization's mission.

Characteristics of NGOs:

 They are formed voluntarily;

 They are independent of government;
 They are not for private profit or gain
 Their principal is to improve the circumstances and prospects of disadvantaged people
 These NGOs are unfettered, not answerable to specific agendas, and, in many instances,
can act independently
 Are not only focused on short-term targets but long-term issues like climate change,
malaria prevention, or human rights.
 Have public trust, which makes them a useful proxy for societal concerns (Hall-Jones,
2006).
 A small number of NGOs pioneered private overseas aid during the colonial period
before World War II.
 A larger number were established in the post-war period
 NGOs enjoy high levels of public confidence. NGOs are widely regarded as the most
trustworthy of organizations.

 They are made up of private individuals who believe in certain basic social
principles and who structure their activities to bring about development to
communities they are servicing.
  Are social development organizations assisting in empowerment of people
 Are a group of people working independent of any external control with specific
objectives and aims to fulfill tasks that are oriented to bring about desirable change
in a given community or areas or situation.
 Are independent, democratic, non-sectarian people’s organization workings for the
empowerment of economic and/or socially marginalized groups.
 Are organizations not affiliated to political parties, generally engaged in working for
aid, development and welfare of the community.
 An organization committed to the root causes of the problems trying to better the
quality of life especially for the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized in urban and
rural areas.

History of the Nongovernmental Organizations Movement

International non-governmental organizations have a history dating back to at least 1839. It has
been estimated that by 1914 there were 1083 NGOs.

 The first NGO was the Anti-Slavery Society followed by the Red Cross and Caritas- A
movement that arose at the end of the 19th century.

 Most of the other NGO movements were founded after the two world wars and, hence,
were primarily humanitarian in nature. For example, Save the Children was formed after
World War I, and CARE was formed after World War II (Hall-Jones, 2006).

 The decolonization of Africa in the 1960s led to a new way of thinking—one that aimed
at causes of poverty rather than its consequences.

 The armed conflicts of the 1970s and 1980s (Vietnam, Angola, Palestine) led the
European NGOs to take on the task of mediators for informal diplomacy. Their support
for locals had an impact on the demise of the apartheid regime in South Africa and the
dictatorships of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

 In addition, in the mid-1980s, the World Bank realized that NGOs were more effective
and less corrupt than the typical government channels.

 The food crisis in Ethiopia in 1984 spurred a new market for “humanitarian aid”
(Berthoud, 2001).
  International NGOs were important in the anti-slavery movement and the movement for
women's suffrage, and reached a peak at the time of the World Disarmament Conference.

N.B However, the phrase "Non-Governmental Organization" only came into popular use with
the establishment of the United Nations Organization in 1945 with provisions in Article 71 of
Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter for a consultative role for organizations which are
neither governments nor member states.

The vital role of Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other "major groups" in
sustainable development was recognized in Chapter 27 of Agenda 21, leading to intense
arrangements for a consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental
organizations.

1. Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries

as a result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state.
2. Further, globalization of that process occurred after the fall of the communist
system and was an important part of the Washington consensus. Globalization
during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of NGOs. Many problems
could not be solved within a nation.
3. International treaties and international organizations such as the World Trade
Organization were perceived as being too centred on the interests of capitalist
enterprises. Some argued that in an attempt to counterbalance this trend, NGOs
have developed to emphasize humanitarian issues, developmental aid and
sustainable development.

 CLASSIFICATION (TYPOLOGY)
 There are also numerous classifications of NGOs. The typology the World Bank uses
divides them into
1) Orientation
2) Operational
3) Advocacy

NGO types by
1) Orientation:

 Charitable Orientation often involves a top-down paternalistic effort with little

participation by the "beneficiaries". It includes NGOs with activities directed
toward meeting the needs of the poor -distribution of food, clothing or medicine;
provision of housing, transport, schools etc. Such NGOs may also undertake relief
activities during a natural or man-made disaster.
 Service Orientation includes NGOs with activities such as the provision of
health, family planning or education services in which the programme is designed
by the NGO and people are expected to participate in its implementation and in
receiving the service.
 Participatory Orientation is characterized by self-help projects where local
people are involved particularly in the implementation of a project by contributing
 cash, tools, land, materials, labour etc. In the classical community development
project, participation begins with the need definition and continues into the
planning and implementation stages. Cooperatives often have a participatory
orientation.
 Empowering Orientation is where the aim is to help poor people develop a
clearer understanding of the social, political and economic factors affecting their
lives, and to strengthen their awareness of their own potential power to control
their lives. Sometimes, these groups develop spontaneously around a problem or
an issue, at other times, outside workers from NGOs plays a facilitating role in
their development. In any case, there is maximum involvement of the people with
NGOs acting as facilitators.

2) Operational
The primary purpose of an operational NGO is the design and implementation of
development-related projects. One frequently used categorization is the division into
relief-oriented versus development-oriented organizations; they can also be classified
according to whether they stress service delivery or participation; or whether they are
religious or secular; and whether they are more public or private-oriented.