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What Are NGOs, And How Exactly Do They Transform Our Society?

Abhishek Pandey

Poor, rural women in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh attending a skills training programme on dairy farming by the NGO I work for, Hand in Hand. As always, their smiles, determination and the colours are simply awe-inspiring.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are considered to be one of the major supporting institutions in India when it comes to development. However, we consider all organisations working for development as NGOs; but there are classifications among them which are listed below:

  1. Non-government Organisations: These are formed at the local, national or international level and functions as a non-profit.
  2. Voluntary Organisations: These function with the support of volunteers that support and aid individuals, groups, or countries.
  3. Membership-based Organisations: These allow people to participate or be part of the organisation on basis of membership fee or some defined subscription fees.
  4. Community-based Organisations: In this case, a large number of people come together and form an organisation to work for the development of their areas. The people in these organizations are local to the area.
  5. Associations of Persons’ Organisations: Here, a group of people having similar objectives come together and form an organisation. For example, a group of disabled people forming a skill development organisation.
  6. Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs): These are similar to NGOs expect that the surplus fund generated in this case is not shared between its shareholders, instead it is pumped back in the organisational objectives. Also, most of the NGOs are NPOs but only a few NPOs are NGOs.

These are the different types of NGOs. Now let us move to what are different legal frameworks to form these organisations.

  1. Societies Registration Act, 1860
  2. Co-operative Societies Act, 1912
  3. Indian Trust Act, 1882
  4. Companies Act, 2013

Any of these frameworks can be used to register the organisational types. Each of these frameworks has different rules and regulations and it is at the discretion of the owner(s) which best suits their objectives.

But then why will a person open such an organization? To answer this question, let us understand some of the transformation perspectives that act as motivation for the people to open an NGO.

1. Social Reform Perspective

As the name suggests, if an individual aims to bring behavioural change in people through certain actions that inspire the beneficiary to act accordingly, then the reformer comes from a social reform perspective. For example, a person working to prevent smoking, as it causes cancer. This would demand change in the behaviour of the people.

2. Structural Transformation Perspective

In this case, the reformer attempts to bring structural change rather than changing the behaviour of the beneficiaries. For example, an advocate for farmers of a particular village (and their demands for a proper storage facility) might enforce the governing body in the area to build a storage facility in the village. This will cause structural transformation, thereby making appropriate and suitable changes in the functioning of that area.

3. Techno-Managerial Perspective

Here, the reformer attempts to bring change by incorporating both technical and managerial skills. For example, a person working to provide farmers with a food-processing unit, wherein advanced technologies are used for production, and suitable managerial skills are needed for marketing.

4. Empowerment Perspective

This is also called the dialogical conscientisation method, or the conscientization perspective. Here, the reformer attempts to bring both behavioural changes and structural changes.

So a person having any one (or a combination) of the different perspectives mentioned above aims to open any one organisation types, matching with a suitable legal framework.

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