Towards accountability: narrowing the gap between NGO priorities and local realities in Thailand
2001
C. Johnson
Paper addresses the debate that the gap between local priorities and NGO accountability can be wide. It explores a highly informal line of accountability that emerged between an internationally funded NGO and a village community in southern Thailand. Using case study material, it argues that pessimistic assertions about NGOs and accountability tend to:overstate the power that NGOs can exercise over their beneficiariesunderplay the power and autonomy that poor people have at their disposalSpecifically, it argues that the imposition of rules stipulating local participation empowered villagers to negotiate and transform the terms on which the NGO intervened in their community.Paper demonstrates how villagers in southern Thailand were able to influence the terms on which an internationally funded NGO prioritised and allocated aid within their community. This, in turn, reflects a number of factors:the organisational ability of the recipient communitythe limited resources of the NGOdonor stipulations regarding group formation and public participationSuch findings suggest that poor people can influence development policy and more importantly, that stipulations aimed at encouraging and demonstrating participation can improve accountability between NGOs and their intended beneficiaries.[Adapted from the author]
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