The Term Non-Government Organisation - Assignment Example

The term Non-Government Organisation Name University Course Title Instructor Date The term Non-Government Organisation 1.0 Introduction At global perspective, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) have played a critical role towards development at local level, national level or even at international level. In a broader view, the operations of NGOs can be economic in nature, social, political or environmentally inclined service. NGOs perform functions like research, providing help during humanitarian crisis, peace building, provision of health services & social amenities and engagement in economic development programmes like that expands livelihood source of the intended beneficiaries. NGOs work in different distinct areas like deprived urban settlements, rural areas, and countries under civil strife or in thematic areas like health, provision of relief food and services among others. Out of this wide scope of their area of operation the input of NGOs can’t go unnoticed (Lewis, 2009, p. 1; ngo.org). Lewis (2007) sees them as organisations involved in development, social change and human rights Moreover, numerous NGOs have contributed towards opening up of democratic space, recognition of minority rights and highlight for the need of gender parity in certain regions or countries (Lewis, 2007, p. 47). The mode of operation adopted by NGOs depends on their constitution, vision, legal framework in that host country and intended beneficiaries. Some of them operate by complementing government efforts; others operate by supplementing while some operate by bridging the gap that has not been occupied (ngo.org). This paper examines the term Non-Government Organisation (NGO). In addition, the paper compares and contrasts the approaches taken by several Non-Government Organisations to a particular social issue. 2.0 The term NGO/ Definition Historically the emergence of the concept of NGO is diverse. According to Lewis (2007, p. 49), the historical background of this concep9t can be analysed at international level, regional level, national level and local level. Lewis (2007) refutes the mythology that NGO is a concept that emerged in twentieth century. To him the concept is traceable back to 200 years. In his observation, he traces the emergence of these concepts from self help group at community levels, emergence of missionary activities in Africa (Lewis, 2007, p. 52). To Lewis (2009, p. 1) he refers to them as third sector organisation since they perform two important, but related function. These functions are delivery of service to people in need and the organization of policy advocacy, and public campaigns in pursuit of social transformation. Moreover, Lewis (2007, p. 48); World Bank notes that the NGOs can be categorised as northern or southern. The northern are the large charities while the south are the small ones.According to Martens (2002, p. 271), the term NGO arose at post world war II. He further notes that the term can be credited to United Nations (UN). In 1945, when UN charter was adopted, article 71 provided that NGOs could be accredited to the UN for consulting purposes. In this perspective, NGOs were seen as societal actors that existed because of UN criteria. This section covers what is meant by NGO by looking at various definitions, approaches used to build those definitions/ how different authors have conceptualised the process, historical perspective/ origin of NGOs, areas of operation/ interest and levels of operation. 2.1 Approaches to Understanding the Term NGO Lewis (2007) and Martens (2002) presents a logical framework of what it means by the term NGO. However, all of them acknowledge the fact that the term is diverse and subjective. From the above definitions, defining the term NGO are not distinctly clear. Martens (2002, p. 271) notes that understanding of the term NGO can be done through two approaches. He observes that the first approach is juridical approach. The second one is the sociological perspective. In the first instance, the underlying principle for definition is the legal status of NGO in the national context and their implications for international law. In the later instance, the focus is on study of societal actors. In this case, the approach attempts at capturing the term by tying it to the transnational arena. This line of argument is reinforced by Lewis (2007, p. 46 and 47) that there are two perspectives in understanding term NGO. The first in his view is an international organisation dealing with environment, human rights and disaster relief. His second view looks at NGOs as organisations focused on social and economic change and thus, agent for development. 2.2Juridical Approach The first approach that Martens (2002, p. 272) is the juridical approach. He observes that from 1990s, NGOs have engaged in the drafting and implementation of international laws and norms. To achieve this, they achieve seek to influence government/ policy makers through informal lobbying or by offering expert advice to the government. One area that this kind of contribution has been noted is in the field of human rights protection. Globally, some NGOs have been known to collect information about human rights abuses. The other field that some NGOs have been recognised in is in environment protection. In this area, these NGOs presents well argued logical proposition at international, national and local forums about the need for protecting environment. Lewis (2007, p. 46) notes that NGOs have been actors at international stage. They have clamoured for humanitarian cause like abolishment of slave trade and formation of peace groups. 2.2.1 UN Context One given approach under judicial approach is based on the UN context. UN being one of the international bodies in world, it laid down guideline of interacting with the NGOs (Martens, 2002, p. 273). Moreover, in the resolution 1996/ 31, UN outlined certain general requirement of what an NGO is. The first requirement is an established headquarters. This means an NGO should have a head office with physical location where one can seek help from. The second is that they should have an executive organ and officer. This is based on the general rule that any organisation has to have top level management to spear head its vision and provide leadership. The third is democratically drafted constitution to govern their internal and external operations and define their term of reference in relation to other bodies and government. The second last is the ability to speak on behalf of its members. Lastly, any given NGO has to be financially independent from the government. 2.2.2 The International Law Context There have been numerous attempts to codify NGOs, but this has not yielded the intended results (Martens, 2002, p. 275). Most of the countries still operate under the UN context. However, certain countries like French have tried to codify theirs. By 1923, French had an institute which drafted treaty on the legal status of international associations. At this time they referred to them as non profit private organisation. In this treaty, the associations were seen as group of persons in a voluntary private association without seeking profits (Martens, 2002, p. 274). They had to have international activity. Presently, the country that has had a major leap in relation to this context is Belgium where foreign NGOs are given preferential treatment (Martens, 2002, p. 275). The above scenario then means that most NGOs have to operate with the national law context of the host country. This based on the premise of human rights like right to association (Martens, 2002, p. 274). 2.3 Sociological Perspectives According to Lewis (2007, p. 47), NGOs engages in social and economic change and thus contributing to human development. Various sociological studies offer divergent view of the term NGO. Some have criticised it as being a catch it all phrase. In certain case some scholars see the use of term government as the starting point of failure. Apart from the above, in other countries, the connotation NGO is seen as establishment that is anti government (Martens, 2002, p. 276). As result of this discontent, new names for the same have emerged. The new names that have emerged out of this discontent include major group; pressure group; interest group; private voluntary organization, independent voluntary sector, civil society, third sector organizations, grassroots organization, activist organization, non-profit body, and, professional, voluntary, and citizens organizations (Archer, 1983, p. 303; Gordenker and Weiss, 1996, p. 18; Willetts, 1996, p. 5 cited in Martens, 2002, p. 276). Lewis (2007, p.45) also develops almost the same list that attempts at explaining different names given to NGOs. Thus, to thoroughly dissect the term NGO, Martens (2002, p. 276) notes that there is need to analyse each word independently. The ‘non’ component of the term is used to explain what NGO is not. It is observed that NGOs are non-profit oriented, non-violent, non-unilateral and not-unintentional. This means that most of these organisations work for good cause and are professionalised (Martens, 2002, p. 277). The ‘government’ component means they normally don’t have government representative within their ranks. Moreover, these organisations are independent and are composed of individual who work as volunteer or professionals who are employed within their ranks. Lastly, the term mean they do not seek political power at any given level (Martens, 2002, p. 278). The ‘organisation’ bit of it means that these are institutions with formal structures; their operations are different from those that are formed haphazardly without any cause. Apart from these, for it to be called organised, they should have democratically formulated constitution. In addition, the concept of organisation means that they have headquarters that acts as their central point of operation (Martens, 2002, p. 279). Figure 1: Approaches to understanding NGO From the above discussions, the term NGO is used to connote “any non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group which is organised on a local, national or international level.” Moreover, the proponent of this definition notes that NGOs are task-oriented and driven by a group of people with a common interest. (United Nations cited in NGO UK, 2009; ngo.org). UN Economic and Social Council cited in NGO UK (2009) conceptualize it as “any organisation that is not established by an agreement among governments is an international non-governmental organisation.” Iriye adds a twist to the above definition. He states that NGO is “a voluntary, non-state, non-profit, nonreligious and non-military association. The voluntary nature of these organizations – that is, their openness to all those who wish to join – distinguishes them from others that are restricted to certain categories of people, whether nationality, gender, religion, class, region, or any other division” (Iriye, 2002, p. 2 cited in NGO UK, 2009). Moreover, World Bank cited in NGO UK (2009) defines it as “private organisations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development.” Martens (2002, p. 280); Prodi and Kinnock (2000, p. 3 & 4) advances an interesting definition. He notes that the term NGO means “formal (professionalized) independent societal organizations whose primary aim is to promote common goals at the national or the international level.” In his definition, there are building tenets that builds up the term NGO. The first is the term societal actors. This is used to connote the source of its membership which is individuals, local or regional branches which include individuals and government representatives. The second building block is that they promote common goals. In this concept, the term common goal means working for the promotion of public goods. The third is NGO being professionalised since they can have paid staffs who are professionals. However NGO is not profit oriented. The fourth is that they are independent because they not under the control of government. Moreover, their operation relies on membership fee and donations. Lastly, they are formal organisation because they have organisation structure, headquarters, constitution and permanent staffs. Figure 2: A conceptual framework showing building blocks of a NGO 3.0 Approaches Taken by Several Non-Governmental Organisations to a Particular Social Issue The NGOs that this paper uses to compare and contrast approaches taken by different NGO to a particular social issue is CARE International and OXFAM. The vision of CARE is to defend dignity and fight poverty. CARE main calling is to address poverty so that the poor can become independent. CARE consist of 12 confederation members. Demographically, their main focus is on women and children since they feel these are the most deprived and vulnerable. Their approach is of community based effort. The sub components of poverty that they aim to address include education, increase access to quality health care and expansion of economic opportunities for all. In addition, at a time they deliver emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters by helping them rebuild. In spatial context, CARE focuses on 84 developing countries. Their approach is integrated and holistic one. They respond to emergency, help children get their education, safeguarding health for mothers and families, expanding economic opportunities, ending gender based violence, enhancing water access, use and management and helping communities adapt to climate change. Moreover, for them to highlight poor people plight’s they engage in campaigns. Their main source of funding is from personal donation and institutional donations (Care, 2012). OXFAM vision is to fight poverty and reduce injustice as part of their core calling of initiating change. It is built of 15 confederations working in 90 countries. The organisation works with local partners and people living in poverty striving to assert their human rights, assert their dignity as full citizens and take control of their live. Apart from delivering development programs through local partners and communities, they provide emergency services to people affected by natural calamities and conflicts. In addition, they conduct campaign as part of global for change, in this they raise critical issues cause of poverty and encourage ordinary people to take action for fairer life. To advance their cause further, they also engage in advocacy by pressing decision makers to change policies and practices that reinforce poverty and injustice. Lastly, this organisation engages in policy research. In this, they back their stance through scientific research (Oxfam International, 2012). All these organisations are geared towards improving living condition of the poor in third world countries. The both two organisation are referred by Lewis (2007) and World Bank as Northern NGOs. Since they are international and have large capital base. From the above brief information, all these NGOs are engaged in reducing poverty through the same mechanisms. The only difference in their vision is that apart from poverty, CARE defends dignity while OXFAM fights injustice. Their form of engagement with the poor is the same. In addition, their relation with policy makers is through advocacy and campaigns. This gives them a platform to be heard. Thus, in a nutshell, the mode of operation for these two organisations in fighting poverty is the same. 4.0 Conclusion The Term NGO is a diverse term with no single definition. Moreover, there is a thin line between NGO and other non profit organisations. However, the kind of engagement and basic building blocks as listed by Martens 2002 and Prodi and Kinnock (2000) can be used to identify which organisation is a NGO and which one is not. The outstanding point is their contribution to the societal good. NGOs are involved in different aspects that afflict human beings. These organisations engage in function like keeping government in check and advancing citizens plight. They play the role of being advocates for fair governance by monitoring policies and pushing for participatory approach governance by clamouring for free and timely information access and flow from government. In addition, some perform integral functions in thematic areas like human rights, environment and health. Apart from the above, NGOs deal with information processing and flow. In this aspect, they provide analysis and expertise, serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and implement international agreements. References Care (2012). What we do. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from: http://www.care.org/careswork/whatwedo/index.asp Lewis, D. (2007). The management of non-governmental development organisations. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Lewis, D. (2009). Nongovernmental organisations, definition and history. Berlin: Springer- Verlag. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/lewisd/images/EncylCiv%20SocietyNGOs2009-DL.pdf Martens, K. (2002). Mission impossible? Defining non-governmental organisations. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organisations,Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 271- 285. NGO UK. (2009). Further definitions of an NGO. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from: http://www.ngo.bham.ac.uk/Definingfurther.htm ngo.org. Definition of NGOs. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from: http://www.ngo.org/ngoinfo/define.html Oxfam International (2012). What we do. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from: http://www.oxfam.org/en/about/what Prodi and Kinnock (2000).The Commission and Non-Governmental Organisations: Building a Stronger Partnership COM (2000) 11 of 18/01/2000. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from: http://ec.europa.eu/civil_society/ngo/en/communication.pdf World Bank. Nongovernmental Organizations and Civil Society/Overview. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from: http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/essd/essd.nsf/NGOs/home Read More