Can NGOs Provide Alternative Development in a Market-Based System of Global Economics?

Abstract

The recent focus on NGOs as alternative forms of service delivery in education\rraises a fundamental question: Can NGOs deliver a higher quality or different type of\rservice than that of market-based donors (multilateral and bilateral development\ragencies) who focus on stabilizing and growing markets? The potential appears good\rfor more locally relevant and more targeted service delivery given a wide range of\rNGO structures and possibilities. But can NGOs withstand the pressures of a profitdriven\rglobal economic system? Two primary problems present themselves. First,\rcommunity-based funding is frequently weak and unreliable relative to funding driven\rby profits. Second, when multilateral or bilateral organizations become primary\rfunders of NGOs, the goals of such organizations (largely market-focused) can be\radopted easily by the local NGO. Such is the power of money to dominate agendas.\rClearly, the NGO sector is quite diverse. The basic economic argument\radvanced here would apply to most forms and sizes of service-delivery NGOs. [1] The\rconcerns addressed here are most likely to involve global NGOs that have substantial\rfunding from market-based donors.