Presentation-2

NGOs?
Pre- independence backgrounds of NGOs Operations
NGOs in Bangladesh Regime
Types of NGOs
Functions/ Roles of NGOs

In modern nation states, apart from government plans and

programmed to meet basic needs and to come out of
untoward situations, people have enthusiastically taken
initiatives to solve their problems through collective
efforts. In communities, for years, such initiatives are
known as Non-Government Organization (NGO). In
Bangladesh, soon after the independence, NGOs started
operating to rebuild a war ravaged country. Primarily
NGOs were entrusted with the delivery of essential
services such as food, clothes, shelter and medicine. Over
time, recognizing the need of poverty alleviation and
development in Bangladesh, NGOs began to shift their
emphasis from relief to socio-economic development
programmes aiming at health care, family planning,
income generation and self reliance for the disadvantaged
and the poor. As poverty continued to deepen and
encompass ever larger number of people, more foreign
NGOs came to work in Bangladesh. Besides, the number
of local NGOs began growing faster after 1971.

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 NGOs are vigorously involved in multicultural
development projects and programs combined with
research, welfare services, human capability development
through educational training, technology development,
exchange of information and social communication. Their
broad objectives are development related to poverty
alleviation and development. Considering their mission,
vision and developmental role, government of Bangladesh
has also recognized them as its development partner in
Bangladesh. NGOs are functioning outside the
government framework but they are bound by and work
within the laws of the land.

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What is NGO?

The NGO has been defined differently by different

people. The most common definitions of NGO are
negative in nature. These organizations are not parts of
the government and do not exist to make profit.

Asian NGO coalition for Agrarian Reform and the

National NGO council of Sri-Lanka chalk out the
following criteria of NGOS:
1. Non- governmental in the sense that it was not set up
or has not been controlled by the government, and is
not a part or an appendage of state apparatus.

2. Non- profit in the sense that its activities are not

governed by profit considerations. Excess funds are
not distributed among the members or used for
private purposes. Whatever income gained is used to
further the objectives of the organization concerned.

3. Non-political in the sense that it is non affiliated to a

political party. In other words, it is a non-party social
or political formation.

4. Secondary organizations, rather than a primary group

or a single community organization.

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5. Development which refers to non-governmental
development organizations engaged in economic,
social or cultural activities which contribute to
enhance the quality of life…such activities may be
on economic development (education, health,
sanitation, nutrition and housing) cultural and
environmental or some combination of such
activities.

Kane identifies the following criteria necessary to

qualify for the term NGO:

1. It should be privately set up and structured and

sufficiently autonomous in its activity and financing.
This above all, is what ensures its non governmental
character.

2. It should be non-profit making this is what ensures

its ‘voluntary’ or ‘benevolent’ character.

3. It should support development. This is what ensures

its ‘public interest’ character even if certain countries
have introduced legislation to limit the areas in
which this ‘public interest’ can be exercised.

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 Norman holds that the definitions of NGOs to be
evolved on four factors:

1. Method of formation, which is voluntary on the part

of a group of people.

2. Method of governing, with self governing

organization to decide on its construction, its
servicing, its policy and its client.

3. Method of financing, with at least some of its

revenues drawn from voluntary sources, and

4. Motives with the pursuit of profit excluded.

Frantz holds that

“NGOs are formal organizations, and as such, they
emerge when a group of people organize themselves into
a social unit with the objective of achieving certain goals
and formulating rules to govern the relations among the
members of the organization and the duties of each
member.”

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He also specifies that
“the goals of NGOs, as opposed to those of other
organizations are almost always related to the problems
of development that is to problems surrounding the
economic, social and cultural order of a country or
region”
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) defines NGO in
the following way:

It is an organization of private individuals who believe in

certain basic social principles, and structure their
activities to bring about development to the communities
that they are serving. An organization or group of people
working independently without any external control with
specific objectives and aims to fulfill tasks that are
oriented to bring about desirable change in a given
community, area or situation.

NGOs in the landscape of rural development have

provoked much interest among the development planners,
development administrators and development workers
who are keen to see the improvement in the quality of life
of poor men, women and children of the rural
communities. NGOs are working at the back and front,
and sometimes abreast with movement agencies.

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But in operational sense, in some cases NGOs are
supplementing the work of government agencies.
Sometimes they are competing with government agencies
and in some other cases they are working with obscure
target groups in the rural areas.

Poverty alleviation programmes are not confined to a

particular problem. The design and implementation of
appropriate measures to enhance the economic condition
of the poor have largely been the prerogative of national
governments and greatly emphasized by international
agencies and individual donors.

In Bangladesh, public development discourse is heavily

influenced by donor agencies. As a result, government
efforts are harmonized with global trend of coordinated
strategy of poverty alleviation. The government’s anti-
poverty action is more in line with aid discourse than with
any local knowledge as well as the reality of particular
people. This limitation of government strategy of poverty
alleviation and development has prompted NGOs to work
for poverty alleviation and development. But, are they
playing their role properly? And are they committed to
their primary goals of non-profit oriented social service
and alleviation of poverty?

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On the other hand, NGO as ‘an association of persons
formed voluntarily through personal initiatives of a few
committed persons dedicated to the design, study and
implementation of development projects at the
grassroots level. They work outside government
structure but work within the legal framework of the
country.’

In sum NGO as a formal, non profit, non partisan

private body which comes into being as a result of
personal initiative of an individual or a group of
individuals to voluntarily undertakes development
works at the grassroots.

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Pre-independence Background of NGO Operations

Bangladesh has a long tradition of non-governmental

voluntary efforts to address the requirements of collective
life. The self-reliant village system (John Mathai, Hugh
Tinker) in the country during Mughal and pre-British
period was founded on the efforts privately initiated,
managed and taken care of by the community members
without any governmental support. These community
efforts covered economic, agricultural, industrial,
educational, judicial, philanthropic and other sectors of
life to ensure the continuity of this self-sustaining social
system. People through their own efforts developed
agricultural system, cottage industries of various types
such as handloom and weaving, pottery, carpentry, smithy
works and so on. They also established marketing
network of the produces both at home and abroad (Irfan
Habib, Tapon Roy Chowdhury), educational institutes,
pinhead for social conflict resolutions, and conducted
other works to meet social need and were well managed
by the rural masses following participatory methods,
when except for tax paying they had no other significant
interactive relationship with the government. Growth of
the non-government efforts in the country also was
primarily grounded on the necessity of collective life,
religious urges and natural fellow feelings. In the absence
of welfare government and other external possibilities,
people had to fulfill their collective needs, which created

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an objective situation for non governmental activities very
often under the leadership of social elites. No doubt, the
need for the collective life in general and that of the
dominant sections of the society created an ideal situation
for the growth of the non-governmental efforts in
Bangladesh but religious spirit and cultural urges always
play a vital role behind any philanthropic work in
Bangladesh society. Charity to the poor and support to the
needy have been a predominant appeal of all religions
practiced in this part of the world (Huda and Hussain,
1990).

Since religious values dominate the social norms, non-

governmental efforts get institutionalized shape at that
time through the establishment of the religious institutions
like monasteries, temples, mosques and so on. It is
interesting to note that all of the three major religions
have special attachment for education, which helped the
establishment of so many educational institutions in the
society by the community people without any government
assistance in the ancient past. At the same time, social
economy was also congenial to undertaking these costly
non-governmental ventures.

The agrarian mode of production where state intervention

in welfare line was quite absent generated some non-
governmental efforts in the field of cultivation, irrigation
and transportation. Though ancient cottage industries

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were primarily established for meeting the community
needs based on non-government efforts, the efforts were
dynamic and able to establish international market,
transcending social boundary. Historically it seems that
complying with the religious spirit, social needs and
nature of production system of non-government efforts
for community well being flourished in the country
covering almost all the sectors of society where people
within social authority structure played the role of main
actors.

These efforts had the following notable characteristics:

1. These were more humanistic directed towards

the sustenance of balance in the system.
2. Spirit of voluntarism originated from social
necessity, human inherent instinct and religious
urges. The quest for professionalism was not a
dominant factor.
3. Welfare activities were fully run with the
resources available in the society. Reliance on
self-finance was perhaps the most important
characteristic of all welfare activities.
4. Natural and spontaneous nature as opposed to
government control was another distinct attribute
of the then welfare services.

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NGOs in Bangladesh Regime

Following the legacy of the Pakistan regime, local

government institution could not have been developed in
Bangladesh at the grassroots level. The vacuum in this
respect rather becomes expanded to such an extent that
the public bureaucracy is institutionally quite unable to
address the dynamics of underdevelopment and
developmental needs of the people. Inhuman sufferings of
people and massive destruction of the physical
infrastructure and the economy of the country caused by
the war of liberation in 1971 called for immediate relief
and rehabilitation. The GOB had to face a task of renewal
and reconstruction of the war torn economy after the
liberation war. But the GOB had neither the capacity nor
the appropriate institutional mechanism to address the
volume and diversity of such enormous problems alone.
This situation ushered in the emergence of a large number
of national and international NGOs operation in
Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has perhaps been the most suitable place on
the globe for non-governmental organizations. NGOs
have emerged as an integral part of the institutional
structure for addressing poverty as well as rural
development, gender equity, environmental conservation,
disaster management, human rights and other social
issues. NGOs, in order to support social and economic
empowerment of the poor, have vastly widened their

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activities to include group formation, micro credit, formal
and non-formal education and training, health and
nutrition, family planning and welfare, agriculture and
related activities, water supply and sanitation, human
rights and advocacy, legal aid and other areas. These
organizations mostly follow the target group strategy
under which the poor with similar socio-economic
interests are organized into groups to achieve there
objectives.

Korten identifies NGO sector in Bangladesh within the

framework of three generations. These are:
First generation: The first generation NGOs are
charitable, focused on welfare, rehabilitation and relief,
and their efforts are geared towards instantaneous
delivery of goods and services to the poor and unfortunate
people in response to the emergency situation that
demands immediate and effective humanitarian action.

Second generation: Due to the limitations of the welfare

and relief approach NGOs make a transition from relief
and welfare oriented activities to developing self- reliance
organizations of the poor, increasing their capacity to
meet their own needs with the resources they control and
undertake various multi-sectoral activities to promote
their self-reliance. It is here where one notices a clear
transition of NGOs from a mere operational role they
have hitherto played to a more effective catalytic role in

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development. At this stage, NGOs engage in building
intent, but their activities are confined to a limited area.
Specific local groups of NGOs are assisting community
development with a number of sectoral activities, e.g.,
agrarian reform, health, cooperatives and so on.

Third generation: The third generation of NGOs stems

from the re-examination of basic strategic issues relating
to sustainability, import and recurrent cost recovery. They
realize that they need to extend greater leadership in
addressing dysfunctional aspects of the policy and
institutional settings of the village and sectors within
which they work. NGOs of this generation expand their
program impacts ensuring sustainability through
undertaking large-scale program system and involving
various public and private organizations. The fully
embraced NGOs of this generation discharge catalytic
foundation- like role rather than an operational service
delivery role directing its attention to facilitate
development by other organizations, both public and
private, of capacities, linkages and commitments required
to address designated needs on a sustained basis. The
third generation is also known as ‘sustainable systems
development’ where NGOs extend the breadth of their
programme, ensuring sustainability through undertaking
large-scale programs, complementing the national
development systems and involving various organizations
and institutions.

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Types of NGOs
Types of NGOs are difficult to explain because there is
no single basis of categorizing the NGOs working in
the multifarious fields. It can be made on a variety of
bases such as:
1. sizes
2. internal political structure
3. independence or dependence on outside control
4. social functions
5. source of their support
6. location
7. the class and characteristics of members
8. intimacy of contact among members
9. the incentives material, solidarity or purposive
10.beneficiary of the NGOs activities.

The US National centre for charitable statistics

proposes following categories of NGOs:

1. arts, culture and humanities

2. education
3. environment and animals
4. health
5. human services
6. international programs
7. public/societal benefit
8. religion, and
9. other including mutual membership.

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Functions and Roles of Non- Governmental
Organizations.
NGOs play multifarious functions and role for the
upliftment of the oppressed people. Mulyangi points out
two broad roles of NGOs:

1. Supplementing or complementing government

program which today are often hampered by lack of
resources;
2. Opening up new possibilities for reaching and
mobilizing the poor, something which may be
opposed to especially when the programs go as far
as altering the poor to structural industries, thereby
calling into question the legitimacy for certain
government policies and action.

Roy…….describes ten roles of NGOs under following

heads;

1. To supplement government efforts and not to

complete
2. To be the eyes and ears of the people at the village
level
3. To set examples
4. To activate the system and make it responds
5. To disseminate information
6. To illustrate how, local, villages and indigenous
resources would be used for their own development

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7. To make communities as self-reliant as possible
8. To train a cadre of grass-root workers who believe in
professionalizing voluntarism
9. To mobilize financial resources from within the
country; and
10.To mobilize and organize the poor to demand
quality service and impose community system of
accountability on the performance of grassroots
government functionaries.

O’ Neil summarizes eleven types of functions/ roles,

which NGOs may generally perform. These are as
follows:
1. Provide society with a wide a variety of partially
tested social innovations from which business,
government and other institutions can select and
institutionalize those innovations which seem most
promising.
2. Provides a forum for countervailing definitions of
reality and morality-ideologies, perspectives and
worldviews- that frequently challenge the prevailing
assumptions about what exists and what is good and
what should be done in society.
3. Provides for recreational or play, element of society.
4. Facilitates integration in society
5. Provides active help in preserving numerous old
ideas

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6. Characterizes its embodiment and representation in
society of the sense of mystery, wonder, and the
sacred.
7. Provides encouragement and assistance to liberate
the individual and permit the fullest possible
measure of expression of personal capacities and
potentialities within an otherwise constraining social
environment.
8. Acts as a source of ‘negative feedback’ for the
society as a whole
9. Provides specially to the economic system of a
society, especially in a modern industrial society
10. Plays a major role in providing for the general
welfare of society through all manner of social
services
11. Constitutes important resources for all kinds of
goal attainment for the interest of the society.

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Singh is more specific in categorizing activities of
NGOs. He divided them into seven broad categories;
1. Charity: giving food, clothing, medicine, land,
building etc in cash and kind
2. Welfare: providing facilities for education, health,
dirking water, roads, communications etc.
3. Relief: responding to all of duties during national
calamities, like floods, drought, earth quakes, etc and
man made calamities like refuge influx ravages of
war and so on.
4. Rehabilitation: continuing and follow up of the work
in areas struck by calamities that are durable in
nature.
5. Services: building up infrastructure in depressed
backward areas, such as tractor hiring services,
providing or facilitating credit supply of seeds,
fertilizers, technical knowledge etc
6. Development of Socio- economic Environment
around Human Beings: socio-economic
transformation on the area basis, covering all the
people in a given area or concentrating only on a
particular group of neglected people in need of help.
7. Development of Human Beings: consciousness
raising, awakening, conscientising, organizing,
recording of properties to suit social justice
redeeming the past and opening doors of
opportunities to the oppressed and exploited.

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From the above discussion it is clear that NGOs role
and functions are not confined in a limited sphere. Their
role is very wide and they cover almost all the
important avenues of the human life specially related to
the people leading backward life.

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