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Obstacles to progress

Distortions

The central question is: How can NGOs best serve Africa's development interests? The
purpose of this paper is to review these issues. It argues that the mandate of NGOS in

Africa should be shifted from that of a conduit for advocating good policy, good
governance, and disseminating western aid, to that of a channel for capacity building and
local community empowerment. This is the only way that long-term development and

economic growth can be encouraged and achieved in Africa.”
"NGOs and Africa's Development and Economic Growth," 2006 375
International Institute for Justice and Development
International Conference on the State of Affairs of Africa (ICSAA) (2006)

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“ The gist of the June paper by the Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of
Manchester, by Nicola Banks and David Hulme, is that NGOs have lost their way. Having

started out as grassroots-led development bodies – "heroic organisations" that offered
the potential for innovative agendas – NGOs turned into bureaucratic, depoliticised
creatures that respond more to the dictates of donors than the people whose interests

they claim to represent.
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John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, the anti-poverty group, is highly critical of
this focus.

"Far too many NGOs have lost sight of the long-term, transformative goals of
international development, and are instead following a donor-led agenda of aid and

service delivery," he said.
"British NGOs are especially guilty of this – often highly professional and efficient, but
lacking the political drive that should be the lifeblood of the sector. If we are to play our

proper role in civil society, NGOs need to learn from grassroots movements and embrace
a far more radical vision of change."

"Is the Faultline Among NGOs Over the Future of Development Deepening?" 376
Global Policy Forum (August 2012)
Mark Trann
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