LECTURE 2: NGO, Concept and Governance

Defining Criteria
Size - it started out as small, informal structures in which management issues can be dealt with on an ad hoc (unplanned), informal basis, may rapidly grow in size if they find favour with donor agencies.

SIZE: some (e.g. Greenpeace, Oxfam, International Committee of the Red Cross, Medecins sans Frontieres) are large, multinational bodies, with offices in many countries (and often multiple branches within a single country), and large full-time and salaried staffs. At the other extreme, I know of a number of "NGOs" that are in practice one- or two-person operations, dependent on and run by entirely voluntary (perhaps even part-time) effort.

Organizational structure - Mars (1992) says that that the above is possible because the organizational structure of the NGOs are informal and not bureaucratic or hierarchical, and they are result oriented rather than paying attention to regulations and protecting their political power. NGOs may be large or small, formal or informal, bureaucratic or flexible
Top Management ----->
<----Staffs members

Operational Programme areas –
Humanitarian, indigenous, environment, charity, etc

Geographical specificity –
GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE: Compare large bodies such as Greenpeace, who take on issues fron global to local (but anywhere in the world) scale, with, for example, a European NGO whose work focuses only on a specific country or region or issue overseas (e.g there is an Irish NGO which focuses on development issues and human rights in East Timor); and then there are purely local NGOs, concerned with purely local "on our own doorstep" issues (e.g. protesting against a specific waste dump or factory)

Funding Sources – NGOs that receive high levels of government funding, many are externally funded, while others depend on locally mobilized resources. It comes in from all kind of sources and is redirected in every conceivable direction.
Easier to get money for one event than for a sustained long-term programme, seeking more money from traditional funding sources, many donors are providing much less money than required, many conditions and terms imposed on funds provided by most donors that may restrict its use, sometimes it is so difficult to find a donor who is willing to FINANCE a specific programme or project.
It takes so much time, effort and money itself to find and secure funding, Fund raising activities need skills and knowledge to be effective and successful - which most NGOs do not have, NGOs, in many cases, are in competition with each other to seek and find funds
Membership structures –

Position on the project cycle –

Terms to define NGOs based on its organizational format:

Non-governmental organization /TSO

Non-profit organization

Private voluntary organization

Non-governmental development organization

Government-organized NGO (GONGO)

Donor-organized NGO (DONGO)

Social movements

Civil society

Community-based organization

People’s organization

Grassgroots organization

Conceptual Framework * Influence international society * Functionalist approach * Considered as actors (involving in struggles over recognition against basic forms of abuse that include the willful neglect of needs of others, the denial of human rights, denigration of ways of life * Activities include: protesting, lobbying, advising, collecting info, filling complaints * It shows to the symbolic power of international organizations to classify social worlds, fix meanings & create new categories of actors

NGO differs from bureaucracies firm, social movements or govt? HOW? * Voluntary associations (formed via agreement & must have valid authority * Defines “Civil Associations” by Jeffery Alexander * C.A tries to influence – how the public thinks & feels abt policy issues * Activities: driven by the interest in the well-being, not of the associated members, but nonmembers who sometimes might not even aware of existence of the association * Connecting the moral sentiments & beliefs of the public

“NGOs are voluntary associations that neither struggle for a share of governmental power nor have a mandate from the government or the state for their existence and activities. They stand up and speak out not for themselves, but for others who are symbolically represented as innocent, oppressed, deprived, neglected, underrepresented, dispossessed, disdained, excluded, disenfranchised, and forgotten. The activity on behalf of others is closely intertwined with systematically cultivating alliances across international borders and is, at least to a large extent, inspired by universalistic ideals”

NGOs & Civil Society * Refers to all sectors of society taking part in political debate * Mid 90s onwards, UNDP & World Bank preferred to talk abt their relationhips w Civil Society rather than NGOs * Since 20th century, same term started to appear in UN docs * To engage w a wider range of grps, w the inference that NGOs are only part of Civil Society * Such activists often assume CBOs or CSO – very different from NGOs * A transnational NGO (in South Africa) associate Civil Society w the values of “trust, tolerance, democracy and civic-mindedness.” It has been an “argumentative role ... that has been the defining feature of civil society’s relationship to state and market actors.”

Civil society – able to develop “compromise around a set of civic norms and a collective definition of the public good”