Civil Society, NGDOs and Social Development: Changing the Rules of the Game (UNRISD, 2000, 86 p.): II. Stocktaking: What Do NGDOs Achieve in Social Development?: (introduction...)

Civil Society, NGDOs and Social Development: Changing the Rules of the Game (UNRISD, 2000, 86 p.)

II. Stocktaking: What Do NGDOs Achieve in Social Development?

		*(introduction...)*
		Expectations of NGDOs in social development
		Setting expectations against achievements

(introduction...)

For more than 50 years, NGDOs have been involved in a vast array of initiatives that would fall under today's understanding(s) of social development (Alkire, 1997; World Bank, 1996a).^l9 The first questions posed and tentatively answered in this section are what is there to show for all these activities? What have NGDOs achieved?²⁰ The overall answers fall short of some expectations. Another question asked and answered is why NGDOs are constrained as effective agents of social development. In this study answers to these questions emerge from comparisons of what NGDOs are expected to do by those supporting them against evidence of NGDO performance and impact. Evidence of the latter, is, however, drawn from an uneven and unconnected range of studies.

¹⁹ Paul Francis of the World Bank argues that there is no single social development paradigm (Francis, 1997)
²⁰ This section draws extensively on Fowler, 1997 and 1998.