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Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) - Definition, Types and Roles - MBA Knowledg

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is defined as an independent entity not part of the government, primarily focused on social, cultural, legal, and environmental advocacy. NGOs can be categorized into operational and advocacy types, with various orientations such as charitable, service, participatory, and empowering. They play crucial roles in development, acting as planners, mobilizers, catalysts, and mediators, while also facing challenges in partnerships and maintaining independence.
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37 views20 pages

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) - Definition, Types and Roles - MBA Knowledg

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is defined as an independent entity not part of the government, primarily focused on social, cultural, legal, and environmental advocacy. NGOs can be categorized into operational and advocacy types, with various orientations such as charitable, service, participatory, and empowering. They play crucial roles in development, acting as planners, mobilizers, catalysts, and mediators, while also facing challenges in partnerships and maintaining independence.
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Home » General Business Articles » Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) –


Definition, Types and Roles

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) –


Definition, Types and Roles
Abey Francis

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is not part of


a government and was not founded by states. NGOs are therefore typically

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independent of governments. Although the definition can technically include
for-profit corporations, the term is generally restricted to social, cultural,
legal, and environmental advocacy groups having goals that are
noncommercial, primarily. NGOs are usually non-profit organizations that
gain at least a portion of their funding from private sources. Current usage
of the term is generally associated with the United Nations and authentic
NGOs are those that are so designated by the UN. Because the label “NGO”
is considered too broad by some, as it might cover anything that is non-
governmental, many NGOs now prefer the term private voluntary
organization (PVO).

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”. Common usage varies between countries – for example NGO
is commonly used for domestic organizations in India 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.

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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, which increases the likelihood that it will.
Instead of being defined by “non-” words, organizations are suggesting new
terminology to describe the sector. The term “social benefit organization”
(SBO) is being adopted by some organizations. This defines them in terms
of their positive mission. The term “civil society organization” (CSO) has also
been used by a growing number of organizations, such as the Center for the
Study of Global Governance. The term “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.

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The term non-governmental organization or NGO was not in general
currency before the UN was formed. When 132 international NGOs decided
to co-operate with each other in 1910, they did so under the label, the Union
of International Associations. The League of Nations officially referred to its
“liaison with private organizations”, while many of these bodies at that time
called themselves international institutes, international unions or simply
international organizations. The first draft of the UN Charter did not make
any mention of maintaining co-operation with private bodies. A variety of
groups, mainly but not solely from the USA, lobbied to rectify this at the San
Francisco conference, which established the UN in 1945. Not only did they
succeed in introducing a provision for strengthening and formalizing the
relations with private organizations previously maintained by the League,
they also greatly enhanced the UN’s role in economic and social issues and
upgraded the status of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to a
“principal organ” of the UN. To clarify matters, new terminology was
introduced to cover ECOSOC’s relationship with two types of international
organizations. Under Article 70, “specialized agencies, established by
intergovernmental agreement” could “participate without a vote in its
deliberations”, while under Article 71 “non-governmental organizations”
could have “suitable arrangements for consultation”. Thus, “specialized

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agencies” and “NGOs” became technical UN jargon. Unlike much UN jargon,
the term, NGO, passed into popular usage, particularly from the early 1970s
onwards. Financial news subscriptions

Many diverse types of bodies are now described as being NGOs. There is no
generally accepted definition of an NGO and the term carries different
connotations in different circumstances. Nevertheless, there are some
fundamental features. Clearly an NGO must be independent from the direct
control of any government. In addition, there are three other generally
accepted characteristics that exclude particular types of bodies from
consideration. An NGO will not be constituted as a political party; it will be
non-profit-making and it will be not be a criminal group, in particular it will
be non-violent. These characteristics apply in general usage, because they
match the conditions for recognition by the United Nations. The boundaries
can sometimes be blurred: some NGOs may in practice be closely identified
with a political party; many NGOs generate income from commercial
activities, notably consultancy contracts or sales of publications; and a small
number of NGOs may be associated with violent political protests.
Nevertheless, an NGO is never constituted as a government bureaucracy, a
party, a company, a criminal organization or a guerrilla group. Thus, for this
article, an NGO is defined as 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.

Types of Non-Governmental Organizations

There are numerous possibilities to classify NGOs. The following is the


typology the World Bank uses;

1. Operational NGOs

Their primary purpose is the design and implementation of development-

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related projects. One categorization that is frequently used is the division
into relief-oriented or development-oriented organizations; they can also be
classified according to whether they stress service delivery or participation;
or whether they are religious and secular; and whether they are more public
or private-oriented. Operational NGOs can be community-based, national or
international. Operational NGOs have to mobilize resources, in the form of
financial donations, materials or volunteer labor, in order to sustain their
projects and programs. This process may require quite complex
organization. Charity shops, staffed by volunteers, in premises provided at
nominal rents and selling donated goods, end up providing finance to the
national headquarters. Students in their vacations or during a break in their
education provide labor for projects. Finance obtained from grants or
contracts, from governments, foundations or companies, require time and
expertise spent on planning, preparing applications, budgeting, accounting
and reporting. Major fund-raising events require skills in advertising, media
relations and motivating supporters. Thus, operational NGOs need to
possess an efficient headquarters bureaucracy, in addition to the
operational staff in the field.

2. Advocacy NGOs

Their primary purpose is to defend or promote a specific cause. As opposed


to operational project management, these organizations typically try to raise
awareness, acceptance and knowledge by lobbying, press work and activist
events.

Other Types of NGOs

NGO type can be understood by orientation and level of co-operation.

NGO Types by Orientation:

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1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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, labor 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.

4. 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 play a facilitating role in their development. In any
case, there is maximum involvement of the people with NGOs acting as
facilitators.

Financial news subscriptions

NGO Types by Level of Operation:

1. Community-based Organizations (CBOs) arise out of people’s own


initiatives. These can include sports clubs, women’s organizations, and
neighborhood organizations, religious or educational organizations. There
are a large variety of these, some supported by NGOs, national or

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international NGOs, or bilateral or international agencies, and others
independent of outside help. Some are devoted to raising the
consciousness of the urban poor or helping them to understand their
rights in gaining access to needed services while others are involved in
providing such services.

2. Citywide Organizations include organizations such as the Rotary or


lion’s Club, chambers of commerce and industry, coalitions of business,
ethnic or educational groups and associations of community
organizations. Some exist for other purposes, and become involved in
helping the poor as one of many activities, while others are created for
the specific purpose of helping the poor.
3. National NGOs include organizations such as the Red Cross,
YMCAs/YWCAs, professional organizations etc. Some of these have state
branches and assist local NGOs.
4. International NGOs range from secular agencies such as Save the
Children organizations, OXFAM, CARE, UNDP, UNICEF, Ford and
Rockefeller Foundations to religiously motivated groups. Their activities
vary from mainly funding local NGOs, institutions and projects, to
implementing the projects themselves.

Roles of Non-Governmental Organizations

NGOs play a critical role in all areas of development. People and policy
makers are agree on one thing that NGOs play a very important role in
development. Role of NGOs vary over the years as the policy of government
changes. NGOs are almost dependent on polices of government. Socio
economic development is a shared responsibility of both i.e. government
and NGOs. Role of NGOs are complementary but vary according to polices
of government. If we closely pursue the voluminous literature on NGOs
many roles can be found according to the expectations of people. The major
development roles ascribed to NGOs are to act as:

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Financial news subscriptions

1. Planner and implementer of development programmers,

2. Mobiliser of local resources and initiative,


3. Catalyst, enabler and innovator,

4. Builder of self reliant sustainable society,

5. Mediator of people and government,

6. Supporter and partner of government programme in activating delivery


system implementing rural development programmes, etc.,

7. Agents of information,

8. Factor of improvement of the poor, and

9. Facilitator of development education, training, professionalization, etc.

Basically NGOs role is to prepare people for change. They empower the
people to overcome psychological problem and opposition of oppress. Its
role cannot be denied

Some NGOs see themselves as champions of the poor, lobbying


government to give them a better deal. Others play a watchdog role,
ensuring that governments and utilities remain honest, focused on serving
the people. A third variety prefer to focus at ground level, finding ways to
bring communities together to provide basic services to those in most need.
Many look to combine these roles within one organisation.

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Partnerships can struggle to accommodate these different visions, making it
hard to harness the skills, abilities and local contacts that NGOs offer to
best effect. NGOs themselves can be torn between engaging other
stakeholders in order to provoke change from the inside and maintaining
their independence from the outside. Equally, how partnerships can engage
and relate to poor communities is not straightforward. In some cases
Community-Based Organisations are preferred to NGOs as partners.

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