Context, Constraint or Control? Zimbabwean NGOs and Their Environment

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Periodical article

Title:	Context, Constraint or Control? Zimbabwean NGOs and Their Environment
Author:	De Graaf, Martin
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Development Policy Review
Volume:	5
Issue:	3
Period:	September
Pages:	277-301
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zimbabwe
Subjects:	associations development NGO Development and Technology Economics and Trade international relations
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7679.1987.tb00468.x
Abstract:	In the 1980s Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have become increasingly popular vehicles for development efforts. However, to the extent that assessment of the presumed effectiveness of NGOs has taken place, the record is not as positive as many NGO supporters might wish or think. Equally lacking is a more incisive analysis of the resaons for the noted increase in numbers and leverage of NGOs. This article argues that NGOs can only be effective if and when they develop and apply an articulate sense of their wider environment and actively devote considerable organizational resources to knowing, appreciating and influencing their environment. It investigates some of these issues in the specific context of postindependence Zimbabwe, concentrating on the relations between NGO operations in that country and the wider environment, notably its political and economic aspects. Bibliogr., notes.