To what extent do Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) meet the development needs of African countries ?

NGOs work in conjunction with international bodies to provide short-term and long-term aid. The international organisation such as the EU and UN to help develop the situations in the country and work with their own agencies such as the WFP to promote development. In Nigeria, Oxfam worked with the specialist agencies to build 15 new schools and provided education for over 600 people. However, with the thousand of NGOs all competing for donations the large NGOs such as Action Aid and Christian aid rely on the 190 who pledged to give 0.7% of their GNI but because only 5 countries meet this promise this means that NGOs have to be more like businesses themselves. NGOs now have to promote and market their activities meaning that they have less backing from other agencies. Despite the NGOs best efforts, a lack of financial backing has lessened the extent as to which NGOs promote development in Africa.

All NGOs are motivated by humanitarian concerns and decide for themselves what they aim to do and what policies they impose. Religious NGOs (RINGOs) such as SCIAF often partake in issues that some governments are unwilling to do. For example, Christian aid works in a war-torn Sudan which the British and Irish Governments refuse to enter. This highlights the dangerous situation the NGOs are willing to go to and put their own lives at risk for others. In Rwanda, Save the Children protected 36,000 children from abuse, improved healthcare and gave former child soldiers an education. However despite promoting development in some countries it is evident that their resources are limited, and war can cause problems in delivering aid. For example, in Sudan 20-30% of aid has been diverted to armies instead of the people thus leading to a halt in food aid. Despite the intention of the NGOs being good in helping people however their efforts in promoting development is stunted due to outside influences such as war and armed conflict.

The experience and expertise which NGOs have in giving aid has led to having a positive contribution towards development in Africa. Due to the specialised skills NGOs possess this means that NGOs can act more independently than governments. An example of this is Oxfam who is know by the public and government as a credible organisation which makes contributions towards eradicating hunger and providing education. However NGOs might unintentionally be giving aid to weakening armies thus making wars longer and thus complicating foreign policies. So even though NGOs are experienced in giving aid sometimes they are actually doing more harm than good e.g. feeding armies.

In conclusion, despite giving their best efforts in promoting development in Africa, the NGOs work is  stunted due to aid dependency, lacking of resources and armed conflict.