In the latter, the arrival of the NGO worker boosted health services and reduced infant mortality. Among villages that did have a government worker pre-NGO arrival, however, crowd-out was common: the NGO hired away that worker in 39 percent of cases. And when these workers moved over to the NGO, it produced severe consequences for villagers: the likelihood that villagers received care from any health worker declined by Strikingly, these villages also experienced an increase in infant mortality after NGO entry.
In total, across all villages, the NGO had zero effect on the provision of health services on average. Deserranno and Qian theorize that these unfortunate outcomes might in part be attributable to the commercial incentives. Previous research by Deserranno and others have found that while government workers devote an average of 10 hours per week to the delivery of health services, employees at this NGO spend an average of 14 hours per week on the job—but only seven of those hours go to free health services, with the other seven going to sales work.
In Ghana, there was reason for optimism that the participatory development NGO would achieve its lofty goals: In villages that began working with the NGO, Karlan and Udry found that villagers became more likely to attend community meetings and contribute to projects, while trust in leaders and perceptions of accountability also improved. Overall villager well-being—measured as the overall effects across food security, education, health and nutrition, environment, and economic livelihood—decreased by 0.
But villagers who supported the incumbent party fared worst of all, experiencing a dramatic decrease in well-being of 0. Government funding decreased by 6. One possible theory the authors float: In many developing countries, the national government has more control than local governments over public programs. Despite their discouraging findings, both sets of researchers say that NGOs can still make a positive difference.
Better coordination with governments could help NGOs fill important gaps in public services, rather than merely replicating existing services, for example. Organizations that have some sway, like the World Bank, need to encourage the collection of data like this on a large scale in poor countries. Deserranno notes that governments in several African countries are launching registries for NGOs, which will enable them to coordinate with one another.
Misinformation is thriving in an environment where people feel disconnected. NGOs have achieved much in single-issue campaigning, ranging from the abolition of slavery to the landmines ban and access to HIV medication.
When it comes to defending human rights, whether it be espousing the causes of political prisoners or mounting challenges to the persecution of sexual minorities, they have often invited the ire of governments. It is this kind of work that governments want to shut down when they seek to ban NGOs or to stop them receiving foreign funds.
Sadly, this is not a disinterested field with universal values. Even the clumsy, lumbering BINGOs achieve much in material terms, but will they really put their shoulders to the wheel behind the greatest liberation struggle of our times, the struggle of the 99 per cent for greater equality?
NGOs are expected to be non-political, but everything they do, operating within highly skewed systems of power, cannot but be political. They might as well get their hands truly dirty. Oxfam website, film posted on 28 April ; nin.
Posted 29 October ; nin. This article is from the December issue of New Internationalist. You can access the entire archive of over issues with a digital subscription. Subscribe today ». Patreon is a platform that enables us to offer more to our readership.
Support us ». New Internationalist is a lifeline for activists, campaigners and readers who value independent journalism. It is free to read online — please support us so we can keep it that way. Support us » Support us » Support us ». Subscribe Ethical Shop. NGOs are no longer seen as the blameless agents of benevolence.
Dinyar Godrej inspects the charge-sheet against them. Help us produce more like this Patreon is a platform that enables us to offer more to our readership. X New Internationalist is a lifeline for activists, campaigners and readers who value independent journalism. Related Articles. The UK is taking aid back to its colonial roots. Does celebrity activism do more harm than good? The age of development: an obituary. Labour: the world urgently needs a fair price for medicines.
View from Africa: Progress without people. Labour knocks out a radical new vision for development. Hazel Healy gives five reasons as to why Labour's new development policy paper is worth celebrating. Labour: a new approach to development? Save the Children whistleblowers speak out. Ebola - the facts. Statistics and more on the spread of the virus through West Africa.
Forget number-crunching; development workers need to get out into the field to understand poverty, writes Maggie Black. Why are NGOs so reluctant to help Greece? As the island of Lesvos is overwhelmed with immigrants, the world of aid looks on. Beulah Devaney reports. Eight ways to help stop human trafficking in Nepal. Women and children are even more vulnerable following the earthquakes, writes Beulah Devaney, so what can we do?
When life comes crashing down. The Nepal earthquake has devastated an already-poor nation. What next? EU ups its tropical forest-related aid. On the face of it, this is good news, says Saskia Ozinga — but only if local communities have a say in how the money is spent. Use the power of the people to challenge the people in power! The NGO sector must support activism, not governments. Ben Phillips sees positive signs of this happening. Should you change your mind later, you can update your settings and delete previously accepted cookies via your browser.
Cookie settings Accept. Cookies policy. Close Cookies overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website.
We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. Necessary cookies are essential for the website to function properly.
This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. Non-necessary Non-necessary.
0コメント