Non-governmental organizations and community development in Bangladesh

Abstract

Despite significant contributions from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in socio-economic development in Bangladesh, the evidence in community development is little known. The findings of this article are based on two NGOs working with two indigenous communities. The study used a qualitative case study research approach, where a multi-method data collection procedure was applied. The analysis of the findings underscored the role of these two NGOs in four ingredients of community development: improving participation, social networking, partnership and development ownership. The results showed that the NGOs’ contributions in community development were credible. The findings provide important guidelines for social workers, NGO workers and development practitioners.

Keywords

Bangladesh community development community participation non-governmental organizations social network

The economy of Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable economies in the world, characterized by an extremely high population density, a low resource base, a high incidence of natural disasters and unrelenting socio-political instability. The ‘poverty’ issue has been identified as one of the most significant problems in the country. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2013), 57.8 percent of the population live in multidimensional poverty (the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) ‘head count’), while an additional 21.2 percent are vulnerable to multiple deprivations. Due to the shortage of government initiatives, many national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are to be found in Bangladesh, and most of them are working on poverty. The NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB, 2009) lists 2418 NGOs, but the increase of NGOs in Bangladesh is an issue of concern. The World Bank (2006) stated that there are 2000 NGOs working in Bangladesh, and identified the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the Association for Social Advancement (ASA), the Grameen Bank, and Proshika as large NGOs, which accounted for 85 percent of all donors funding NGOs.

NGOs tend to be best known for undertaking either of the two main forms of activity: the delivery of basic services to people in need, and organizing policy advocacy and public campaigns for change (Lewis and Kanji, 2009). The NGOs’ interventions have become popular and effective for development in Bangladesh for various reasons. Their close links with the community, their quick response to new circumstances, ownership and participation, basic needs, human rights, gender equality, environment and sustainable development have been identified as the greatest achievement of the NGOs’ activities (Haque, 2002). The World Bank (2005) stated that Bangladesh has nearly achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relating to elimination of gender disparity in schooling opportunities. This study selected two NGOs: Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB) and Proshika. The study evaluated the Market and Livelihood Programme (MLP) of PAB and the Small Economic Enterprise Development (SEED) Programme of Proshika working with blacksmiths and goldsmiths, respectively.

Literature review

NGOs’ development interventions have become a popular research area because of their wide expansion in development activities. From the late 1980s onwards, NGOs have gradually become part of the research agenda of ‘development studies’, the interdisciplinary field of scholarship which includes economists, sociologists, political scientists and anthropologists working on development issues (Lewis and Kanji, 2009). Lewis and Kanji have further argued that compared with many other development issues, NGOs have received less in-depth or systematic research attention at the empirical level. As a result, some have argued that the research literature on development NGOs remains somewhat underdeveloped. In one influential study, Korten (1990) argued that in the first ‘generation’, an NGO’s most urgent priority is to address immediate needs, mainly through undertaking relief and welfare work. In the second generation, NGOs shift towards the objectives of building small-scale, self-reliant local development initiatives, as they acquire more experience and build better knowledge, and may become more influenced by other agencies, such as donors. A stronger focus on sustainability emerges with the third generation, and a stronger interest in influencing the wider institutional and policy context through advocacy. In the fourth generation, NGOs become more closely linked to wider social movements and combine local action with activities at a national or global level, aimed at long-term structural change. NGOs provide an alternative and a more flexible funding channel, which potentially offers a higher chance of local-level implementation and grassroots participation (Lewis and Kanji, 2009). Cernea (1988) argued that NGOs embodied ‘a philosophy that recognizes the centrality of people in development policies’ and that gave them, along with some other factors, a ‘comparative advantage’ over government and public sectors. NGOs were seen as fostering local participation since they were more locally rooted organizations and therefore closer to marginalized people than most officials were.

Mendes and Binns (2013) utilized community development approaches in a diverse range of ways in their exploratory qualitative study of rural social workers in Victoria, Australia. They were constrained by the limited and inconsistent formal support to place community development within the continuum of social work practice. Hutson (2013) analysed how the Jamaica Plain Neighbourhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) and other non-profit community-based organization partners were able to form a public–private partnership with local hospitals, medical facilities and research organizations that led to a community-focused workforce development and community benefits programme in Boston. Dickes and Robinson (2013) conducted a study on community partnerships as a tool to reduce regional labour gaps in the South Carolina region. Their study analysed the importance of strong civic infrastructure and community efficacy for successful development efforts by using regional partnerships in order to reduce or eliminate persistent labour supply and skill gaps in the region.

Matarrita-Cascante et al. (2006) conducted a study on the relationship of community-level indicators with community participation in a five-county, rapidly growing, amenity-rich area in southern Utah. The research team studied two main types of community members – seasonal and permanent residents. Here, participation in the community was found to be a central aspect of fostering local community development. This study found structural and interactional differences between permanent and seasonal residents. Both factors were stronger predictors of community participation for permanent compared to the seasonal residents. Lewis conducted a number of studies on the role of NGOs in development. For example, Lewis (2004) explained the position and importance of civil society within the reflections on NGOs, state and democracy in Bangladesh. Lewis and Kanji (2009) mentioned that NGOs have a wide diversity of roles in development. They located the recent rise in prominence within the broader histories of struggle as well as within the ideological context of neoliberalism. They analysed how interest in NGOs has both reflected and informed wider theoretical trends and debates within development studies. NGOs are increasingly important in relation to ideas and debates about ‘civil society’, globalization and the changing ideas and practices of international aid. Kang (2011) reviewed NGOs’ strengths and limitations in community development. NGOs’ bottom-up approach, participatory development, partnership, capacity building, people-centred development, responsiveness and flexibility, empowerment, sustainable development and basic service delivery were found to be significant strengths.

There are a number of studies conducted on NGOs’ role in community development in Bangladesh. Rahman (2006) looked at the relationship between NGOs and the contribution of democracy and development. Islam and Morgan (2012a) mentioned NGOs as a potential agent for community empowerment in Bangladesh. In another study, Islam and Morgan (2012b) examined the role of NGOs in social capital development and community empowerment. Their findings showed that the participatory planning, channel of communications, collective actions and income generation programmes were helpful to generate social capital. NGOs’ initiatives such as community participation, group work practice, local resource mobilization, communication and knowledge sharing with outside agents and decentralized management systems are helpful in community empowerment. In a recent study, Islam (2014) showed that Bangladeshi NGOs have an important role in improving development ownership among the vulnerable communities in Bangladesh. That study mentioned a number of limitations and challenges in this regard, that is, local contextual complexities and lack of clarity of local peoples’ demands, NGOs’ commercial attitude, donor dependency and their tight and time-bounded terms and conditions, NGOs’ political attachment and the lack of real participation in problem assessment and decision-making process.

However, the studies (i.e. Hutson, 2013; Islam, 2014; Islam and Morgan, 2012a, 2012b; Kang, 2011; Matarrita-Cascante et al., 2006; Mendes and Binns, 2013; Rahman, 2006) discussed earlier in this section showed NGOs’ role on different indicators in community development, and most of the studies included one or two components of community development. We would argue here that none of the studies showed the role of NGOs in community development comprehensively. Through reviewing the studies conducted in developed countries and the studies in Bangladesh, we can clearly understand the implications of NGOs’ role in community development. NGOs in developed countries have placed emphasis on improving public–private partnership, neighbourhood, civic infrastructure and community efficacy, and reducing labour gaps, whereas the NGOs in developing countries like Bangladesh have concentrated more on livelihood options (i.e. income generation activities, local resource mobilization, etc.), community empowerment and increasing development ownership among vulnerable people. People’s participation is found to be a common component in both areas. The purpose of this qualitative study is to analyse the role of two NGOs in community development. We hope that the findings of this study will provide an effective and detailed analysis about the role of NGOs in community development, and fulfil the knowledge gap that we have found in the literature.

Research question, objective and methods

Research question and objective

The principal research question of this case study was, What are the contributions of NGOs in community development? The main objective was to justify this question and explore the role of two NGOs in how their interventions facilitated community development. The study underscored the role of two NGOs in four ingredients of community development, that is, improving participation, social networking, partnership and development ownership.

Research approach and data collection methods

The case study research method was utilized to investigate the issues in this study. This is because, as noted by Yin (2009), this method is appropriate when the research involves answering ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions. It is also adequate when an in-depth understanding of issues is being sought (Yap and Ferreira, 2010). A similar approach has been widely followed by previous researchers to study the performance of NGOs and related issues (i.e. Collier, 2005; Kaplan, 2001; Lillis, 1999; Yap and Ferreira, 2010). It used a multi-method data collection procedure, where a number of qualitative data collection methods such as the semi-structured interview, social mapping, participant observation, in-depth case study, focus group discussion (FGD) and documentation survey were employed.

Community profile

In Bangladesh, the blacksmith and goldsmith communities are identified according to their occupations. These are male-dominated trades passed down from generation to generation according to family tradition. The blacksmith is a neglected and socially excluded group: the social status of blacksmiths is comparatively lower than other occupations. Our study selected a number of blacksmiths who were working in their shops from Mostafapur Bazar in Madaripur District. They live in a community nearby their shops which is known as Kamar Para (village of blacksmiths). They had low incomes, low levels of education and were using traditional technologies, mainly physical labour. Each shop can earn an average of Tk. 350 (US$4) daily. The blacksmiths work with the ‘black’ metals, especially iron. They manufacture da (billhooks), kodal (spades), kural (axes), shabal (pickaxes), bati (fish cutting instruments), perek (nails), chhuri (knives), chimta (longs) and hata (big, spoon-like instruments). On the other hand, the goldsmiths are known as Sharnokar (gold makers). They work at jewellery (goldsmith) shops which are located at the north-west corner of Mirpur 1 Market. The jewellery shop is known as Sona Pourty (Gold Market). The monthly salary of the workers is between Tk. 2000 and 5000 (USS$40–65), depending on their experience and contract. They produce innumerable gold ornaments (gahana), such as churi (bangles), bajuband (armlets), har (necklaces), hansuli (ornaments for the neck), sinthipati (ornaments put on the head in the parting of the hair), dul (earrings), kanpasha (ear ornaments), nolak (nose rings), nath (large nose rings put on the nostril), nakchhabi (small star-shaped ornaments put on the nostril) and mal (anklets). Most goldsmiths live with the ordinary people in Mirpur Thana.

Selection of NGOs and respondents

The study selected two NGOs, that is, Proshika and PAB, and two indigenous communities, that is, blacksmiths and goldsmiths. (The SEED Programme of Proshika and the MLP of PAB were selected for the study.) Both NGOs had a number of years of working experience with these communities. The blacksmith community of Proshika was selected from Mostafapur Bazar at Mostafapur Union in Madaripur District and the goldsmith community of PAB from Mirpur 1 market at Mirpur, Dhaka District. Both NGOs provided a number of interventions to the smith communities such as community awareness, skills training, loan support, savings improvement, monitoring and supervision. In both communities, all of the members were considered. We found a total of 24 shops in Mirpur and 22 in Mostafapur. We interviewed all the heads of those shops and selected 10 in-depth case studies (5 from each community) among those who had long working experience. Other participants were local leaders and NGO staff members at both head and area offices.

Data collection instruments and fieldwork

We collected data from 46 indigenous people (24 goldsmiths and 22 blacksmiths) and 14 NGO staff members (6 from PAB and 8 from Proshika) at both head and area offices through a semi-structured interview schedule. We conducted four FGD sessions with NGO staff members (one with the head office and one with the area office) and two with community leaders (one in each community). For 9 months, we visited and observed fields where community mapping and observation methods were frequently used in order to see the outcomes of NGOs’ interventions on community development. We reviewed the relevant literature including annual reports, office files and research reports at both NGO offices. We also reviewed the relevant literature such as books, journal articles, and published and unpublished research reports. Proper data collection instruments were developed, that is, separate interview schedules with both structured and unstructured questionnaires for interviewing and separate guidelines for in-depth case study, FGD, community observation, community mapping and documentation review. Some information was updated from head office via e-mail and telephone.

Ethical issues

Neither the Social Science Research Council in Bangladesh nor any of the NGOs had institutional review boards or committees who could approve the study. We followed the ethical guidelines given by Miles and Huberman (1994), which were elaborately explained and discussed. A guarantee of confidentiality and anonymity of sources was given to the authorities of Proshika and PAB. We took verbal consent from all participants and the study followed conventional processes in terms of consent, duty of care and protection of confidentiality in the way the fieldwork was carried out.

Data analysis techniques: Triangulation

Data from in-depth case studies, interviews, FGDs, as well as observation transcripts, documentary analysis and research memos were entered onto an Excel database to provide structure and flexibility to the management and integration of different types of data (Bazeley, 2009). The research questions and conceptual framework had generated an initial start list of analytical codes, which were developed during data analysis. Triangulation permitted the search for convergence and divergence in the multiple sources of information gathered in order to develop and confirm (or disconfirm) the analytic themes (Creswell, 2003).

Results

The results of this study are presented according to the four ingredients of community development: participation, social networking, partnership and development ownership.

Improving community participation

Both NGOs used a number of tools for improving participation of the blacksmiths and goldsmiths in development activities. These included a community survey, a participatory plan, training, and seminars and workshops. The staff members of both NGOs mentioned that the community survey was the most important tool for preparing an effective participatory plan. They found this survey very useful for explaining the purpose and objective of the participatory plan to the local people. The staff members used this tool to investigate all social networks, where they encouraged the local people to participate with this planning. The smiths confirmed that the NGO staff members visited their houses and consulted with them about different aspects of the planning before starting their programmes. The staff members also showed a number of examples about the importance and benefits of their participatory plan, for example, the importance of group formation, use of loans, savings plans, participation in skills training, and the importance of social networking and partnership. The smiths mentioned that this kind of participation improved their self-confidence, social trust and collective action. The staff members believed that more participation in such kinds of institutional arrangements decreased their individual fears, apprehensions and limitations, on the one hand, and increased their ‘social mobility’ towards social empowerment, on the other hand. The staff members added that this kind of survey and plan helped them not only to participate in their particular development project but also to participate in other development projects in general so that the community population could enter into the mainstream of the community development process.

The PAB arranged the ‘exposure visit’, where a blacksmith had a chance to participate and talk directly with other blacksmiths, brokers, wholesalers, businesspersons (both urban and rural), designers and suppliers. Many blacksmiths said that their exposure visits and participation with different blacksmith enterprises in Dhaka improved their confidence and working attitude, which was intensified in exploring Dhaka further on those occasions. This practice gave them more freedom and democratic rights as it was formed by the people and for the people. This study found that this kind of practice was helpful in minimizing the exercise of power. In Bangladesh, NGOs have created many examples of working with poor people, where this kind of approach has initiated a practice called ‘authentic development’. This ultimately turned the smiths into the ‘active subjects’ bringing dignity, social identity and social position into their livelihood struggle.

Social networking

Both NGOs used a number of tools, that is, marker chain and market maps, communication channels, partnership, group formation, technology fair, and monitoring and supervision for social networking. In addition, Proshika used cultural activities and social festivals, and PAB had an exposure visit and a relation matrix. The smiths mentioned that these tools were useful and effective to assess their business needs, attitudes, cultural norms and values. The staff members said that they developed these tools through the ‘trial and error’ process. These tools were particularly useful to the new entrepreneurs to increase their assessment capacity. Both NGOs used the ‘market/business channel’, which was considered an important social network. It enabled the smiths to enter into a competitive market, where they benefited through collective actions. They developed circles with different community people, community leaders, business partners, wholesalers, designers and suppliers. Here they had an opportunity to justify their existing skills. For example, when a blacksmith entered into a market channel, he needed to know where he would get his raw materials (i.e. coal, iron, steel and electricity). Then, he needed to build relationships with the local customers and suppliers. We mentioned earlier that sometimes they made contact with the wholesalers, who bought their products and then sold these in the urban markets. This process was helpful to generate opportunities for gaining social, human and financial capital. This is because when a smith travels the market map, he has to follow a number of channels at different levels, which help to acquire such capital. The staff members mentioned that this kind of participation transpired extensively through a ‘market chain’, where all types of social networks were established through the ‘collective actions’ in order to achieve greater community empowerment. It was perceived as the ‘genuine’ or ‘real participation’, which defined or diagnosed local problems. Therefore, development had a solid chance of meeting the real needs of the community people. In this social network, participation was seen as a stable, continuous and dynamic process. It gave the smiths the opportunity to manage their own affairs, influence their decisions and participate in activities that affected their lives.

The ‘rapid market survey’ (RMS) was used to assess the present market situation. The smiths found this an easy and useful method, where they could record all necessary information. PAB offered some other tools such as learning log sheets, relationship matrixes, needs assessment tools and the market actors’ behaviour assessment tools. The staff members of PAB mentioned that they could assess the most useful resources through identifying specific actions, contributed team success and actions for better future practice. The relation matrix was useful to assess the possible outcomes in favour of producer groups, where all possible related parameters/indicators were identified. This matrix was able to locate the current and future baselines based on possible parameters. Proshika developed a number of techniques and measurements for proper performance assessment of the smiths, staff members and trainers. The SEED staff members followed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in order to indentify the ‘needs’ and ‘problems’ of the projects.

The frequency of face-to-face interaction through the monitoring, supervision and group meeting between the smiths and staff members generated a common social norm and created predictable behavioural patterns. This process gave a sense of ‘belonging’ to the organization, establishing trust among them in helping to develop a stake in organizational goals. Significantly, the meetings demonstrated an enormous amount of ‘social energy’. The decision-making, reporting and internal learning operated as closely intertwined processes within the organization. The minutes of meetings, periodic activity reports and reports of visits across the organization were maintained in written form. This practice created a constant flow of information throughout the organization, both vertically, from the centre out to the field and back to the centre, and horizontally, across sub-centres, areas and divisional levels. In this way, social capital was defined as people’s ability to co-operate in enhanced economic growth in those communities.

The group formation was another important intervention. PAB formed such groups through partnerships and forums, that is, a producer group forum and a private service provider forum, and PAB also provided managerial and technological supports to the partner NGOs. PAB had 23 types of producer groups with 455 members with association of the partner NGOs. By December 2007, Proshika had established 220 area development centres (ADCs), 149,776 peoples’ organizations and 18,417 group federations, which were maintained with proper organizational rules and regulations, principles and values. The PAB staff members claimed that at the local level, these sorts of forums played significant roles towards developing local leadership and exchanging information and knowledge. The staff members and local community leaders confirmed that a good number of their leaders participated in the local administration elections, and many of them were elected as Union Parishad Chairmen, Ward Members and Ward Commissioners. All three groups of participants mentioned that these leaders played a significant role in favour of the rights of such disadvantaged groups.

Improving partnership

The two NGOs had partnerships with the government organizations, local institutions and other local and international NGOs (donors). They also invited these organizations to their seminars and workshops. These helped to mobilize local resources. Both NGOs also benefited from knowledge sharing. These processes facilitated ‘collective actions’. The staff members mentioned that their partnership with the donors was helpful in developing their policy formulation, planning, programming, programme implementation and evaluation because these international donor organizations had a wide scope of international exposure. However, the NGOs found this partnership to be one of the most challenging areas, but it was helpful in establishing a joint commitment among actors to a shared vision and goals in bridging an understanding from multiple perspectives and in building a collective capacity for social and institutional learning. The NGO staff members believed that due to a shortage of financial (i.e. donations) and physical (i.e. technology, technological tools) capital, they needed to acquire capital from the donors for community development. Both NGOs had relations with other organizations as a part of their experience-sharing scheme. The NGO staff members confirmed that they encouraged and helped their beneficiaries to link with other organizations.

The NGOs had a training exchange programme with many organizations, which encouraged the smiths to attend the local fairs, where they also invited the representatives from the local administration and institutions. The PAB file documents showed that the Market and Livelihood Programme (MLP) worked with a number of organizations as a part of this partnership scheme between April 2006 and March 2007. These organizations were the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Wheat Research Centre (WRC), Rural Development Academy (RDA), the Vocational Training Institute, Palli Karma Shahyak Foundation (PKSP), CARITAS Bangladesh, Parbatya Boudha Mission Bangladesh and the Art Institute of the University of Dhaka. They also participated in the ‘local market development forum’ and shared their experience with the information and communication technology (ICT)–based organizations. PAB staff members stated that the MLP placed emphasis on capacity building, partnership development and collaboration between governmental organizations (GOs) and NGOs. The study found that this programme provided a significant amount of credits, input and technical assistance, which were mobilized and channelled to the project beneficiaries. For example, a number of partner NGOs started an enterprise development loan programme with MLP, whereby Tk. 21,787,500 (£213,602) was credited to 1011 small enterprises.

Improving development ownership

Both NGOs used a number of interventions, that is, a participatory plan, income generation, counselling and advocacy, supervision and monitoring, using local capitals and resources, autonomous management system and savings schemes for improving development ownership. We verified how the smiths themselves determined their own project – what they preferred and how the resources were mobilized internally, and what was needed from outside. In this regard, we were not very convinced that both NGOs were successful. In some areas, NGOs’ contributions were partially successful. For example, through FGD with the local leaders and an in-depth case study with the smiths, we discovered that the smiths actively participated in implementing the project, so the issue of sustainability was easier to keep in their minds. The project was managed and resourced internally and the community had the fullest understanding of the process. Here, we observed that participation created empowerment and empowerment emphasized collective voice. The whole process was considered a local decision. The local leaders and staff members mentioned this as an important ingredient for local community development.

In many cases, we found that NGOs’ participation initiatives were not fully successful. By reviewing both NGOs’ development policies and activities, we concluded that many development concepts and frameworks were imported from Western countries. We observed that in some cases, the imported knowledge tools were successful, but in many cases, the smiths failed to grasp this. If we look at the NGOs’ two divergent development constructs (indigenous versus imported knowledge approaches) (Figure 1), we can apprehend that it is really very difficult to understand this imported knowledge approach that the NGOs used for community development. In terms of the type, nature, mode, explanation, data creation, communication and learning, use and knowledge management, the imported knowledge approaches were found to be harder to grasp when compared to indigenous approaches. The smiths’ low level of education and lack of explanation capacity were two significant barriers in this regard. For example, concepts used in the imported knowledge approach, such as participatory planning, social capital, community empowerment and the use of development frameworks, that is, sustainable livelihood framework (SLP) and SWOT, confused the smiths. The nature of the imported knowledge is reductionist, objective and physical, and it is viewed with scepticism, whereas the indigenous knowledge is holistic, subjective and spiritual. In the knowledge management system, for example, the imported knowledge was managed by the centralized authority, which used modern technologies, whereas the smiths in the indigenous knowledge approach relied on the decentralized management, which is based on heavily local traditions. These explanations were also true in other areas, which are mentioned in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

NGOs’ divergent development constructs – indigenous versus imported (Western) knowledge approaches.

Due to the high unemployment rate in Bangladesh, the study found that NGOs’ income generation programmes helped to create ‘trust’ among smiths and NGOs. This trust created an understanding among the smiths that the NGOs responded to their needs. The NGOs provided income facilities both by recruitment in the organizations and by income generation activities in the communities. The NGO staff members said that people often trust them more than they trust members of their own community. This indicated that families would tell an NGO worker about a problem before telling a friend or neighbour. This had a wide range of impacts on financial, human and social capital in the community. The document showed that Proshika had 7138 staff members in June 2007. It covered 24,181 villages, 2109 slums, 1919 unions (rural) and 328 wards (urban), 234 Upazilas, and 59 districts as of December 2007. The total beneficiaries were 11,808,421. It created 10.51 million employment/self-employment facilities and it had 20.52 million human development training participants and 1.16 million practical skills development training participants. The office documents showed that under the saving scheme of Proshika, the development workers encouraged their target people to save a small amount of money from their everyday income to face their crises and further investment for more income. About half of their income or profit was used on human development or placed in savings. According to the SEED office data sheet, their total investment was Tk. 177,756,941 (£1742,710), net profit was Tk. 6,671,440 (£65,406) and the self-sufficiency score was 162 from July 2006 to June 2007. We observed that this practice helped to improve trust between NGOs and smiths. PAB’s Reducing Vulnerability Programme successfully trained 5265 beneficiaries in 2006, and they claimed that they created a good number of income generation facilities in Bangladesh. On average, the beneficiaries of MLP (PAB) were able to more than double their income within 3–4 years after receiving training and other business-related services from the project. A majority of the beneficiaries expanded their existing business/enterprises (71%), and more than a quarter of them started new businesses (26%). Through conducting a survey of 39 entrepreneurs in Dhaka city, SEED reported that after receiving interventions from SEED, the smiths’ monthly average income was nearly doubled, and they were in a good social position.

Both NGOs’ staff members and smiths said that NGOs’ skills development training was helpful to understand and own the objective and goal of their programme. Such training facilitated the generation of human and social capital, that is, improving human skills, management capacity, personal confidence and overall social awareness. We found that these kinds of exposures were widened among other colleagues through ‘cascade training’. The NGOs continued to share values and norms with the smiths through their continuous supervision and monitoring services. The smiths and staff members agreed that these tools gave them further opportunity to explain many issues and difficulties.

The NGOs’ decentralized management approach helped the smiths to own the development activities. Both NGOs had independent advisory and management boards. The MLP of PAB was managed by the head office located at Dhaka, linked with their main office in the United Kingdom. The head office of the SEED Proshika was located in Dhaka. The area office staff members mentioned that they had full autonomy, and their central office did not impose any administrative decisions on them. The head office allocated funding for the area offices and took all working decisions according to the needs and demands of the local offices and local communities. Both NGOs had more organic relationships at the community level; they seemed to be the most appropriate service delivery partners.

Discussion

The objective of this qualitative study was to show NGOs’ role in community development in Bangladesh. Although NGOs’ development practices have not always been considered as community development interventions, their activities are usually based in the community and are aimed at improving people’s lives. The results of the study into the four ingredients of community development are presented. We would argue that many of the NGOs’ contributions were not realised in the way that these two NGOs brought community people into mainstream development. It is noted here that this finding is based on two NGOs as case studies in Bangladesh. However, the findings cannot be generalized and many of the opinions may not be considered as general comments about NGOs in Bangladesh. Moreover, the study did not verify some important aspects, that is, NGOs’ management problems, use of funding, local political context, and NGO–civil society relationship. We would suggest conducting a comprehensive study, which may examine different aspects of community development. We have seen that the NGOs could not overcome many limitations, which were related to the local socio-economic and cultural conditions. In some areas, we found that the NGOs had attitude problems towards the development of the smith communities. We have seen that both NGOs were working with the indigenous communities whose education level was poorer than that of other communities. Many NGO staff members claimed that they could not offer many initiatives due to the low level of education of their beneficiary groups.

We found that both NGOs had a substantial role in improving participation of the smith communities into development activities. Their participation levels were higher in activities related to project implementation, planning, decision-making and problem solving. Lekies et al. (2009) found similar findings in Youth Community Action projects in New York State. But we would argue that the participation process in Bangladesh is still confined within hidden government agendas, political paradigms and external control. As a result, NGOs could not link with the government development policy properly. Regarding the nature of the Government plan in Bangladesh, the MLP head of PAB said,

I can’t find any new policies in the new development plan. The Government development policy is too politically based rather than representing the reality of the country. The Government does not care who are blacksmiths, who are potters, and who are milkmen and how their needs and opinions can be included in the country’s overall development process.

This kind of finding is supported by Rahman (2006), White (1999), Lewis (2004, 2009) and Islam and Morgan (2012b). We found that there was little consultative participation of the blacksmiths and goldsmiths. Despite the heightened call for the ‘voices of the poor’, this was not translated into practical listening and the accommodation of ethnographies of the poor. These poor people claimed that NGOs were not actually doing anything for them; rather they were being exploited by the NGOs. We have seen that the development agencies (developers) and the smith communities (developees) had different perceptions of the process and outcomes, which prevented active dialogue. We found that the smiths were not reluctant but interested in taking part in a talk with the NGO staff member. However, their norms, values, needs and expectations with the staff members were not addressed appropriately in participatory planning.

We found that in some cases both NGOs were successful in developing social networks and partnerships with many local, national and international organizations. These helped to mobilize local resources and increase leadership practices, income, and social and human capitals. The outcomes decreased inequality and poverty, improved opportunities and led to significant benefits for the entire community. This finding is supported by Hutson (2013) and Yeneabat and Butterfield (2012). On the other hand, the NGOs benefited through sharing their experiences with other partner NGOs and donor organizations, which helped them to improve their quality of services. However we found that the political network of Proshika gave a negative impression to the community population. This finding is supported by Hossain (2006), Rahman (2006), Islam and Morgan (2012b), White (1999) and Lewis (2004). The NGO staff members said that they often faced extraordinary challenges at both the individual and organizational levels. They reported that they had to work long hours with limited resources in uncertain and volatile political and economic circumstances in order to help the most marginalized and disadvantaged members of their communities.

Through considering the appropriateness and evaluating the impact of two divergent knowledge systems, that is, imported versus local, this article argues that many smiths could not acquire the imported knowledge system. The main contradiction was that those tools were not developed through considering local context; rather the NGOs used them directly. Even if the NGOs are using ‘democracy’ to achieve community development, it is a foreign tool. This argument is supported by Laaksonen (2006) and Islam and Morgan (2012b). Our article suggests that in the context of globalization, the NGOs need to focus on expanding space for poor people to engage with their livelihood advantage. An emerging need is to promote local knowledge and innovations at the grassroots level. Recognizing the primacy of the local knowledge system in the project design is the first step towards its promotion. In this context, a shift from ‘problem-solving’ mode to ‘augmenting solutions’ can be suggested. A key element in the project design should be to build a ‘knowledge generation phase’ into the project cycle. We think that this phase helps in mobilizing the community around augmenting the solutions to the problems that the project is addressing. This will increase the ownership/involvement of the community (International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 2004; Islam, 2014).

Considering the above discussion, we can conclude that despite some genuine and authentic initiatives of the NGOs for community development, their initiatives partially failed to improve participation, social networking, partnership and development ownership. We argue that there are some legitimate concerns of NGOs’ activities in Bangladesh. Our opinion can be compared with that of Irish and Simon (2005), who mentioned that the current legal framework for NGOs in Bangladesh is outdated, confusing and in need of complete revision. There is a lack of account-ability and transparency in the vast majority of NGOs that receive no foreign funds, but that do affect the public interest. In addition there are currently no provisions in law clearly dealing with the issue of political activities by NGOs. However, in order to have adequate control over the external linkages of NGOs, it has become crucial to adopt effective internal regulations. This helps to manage the excessive proliferation of NGOs, scrutinize their revenues and expenditures, assess their human resource practices such as recruitment and compensation, prevent them from ignoring the original agenda and digressing to business ventures, and ensure their accountability to the public (Haque, 2002). The foreign funded NGOs should find alternative funding sources so that they can legitimize the fact that they are self-governing and independent from any political and economic entities (Fowler, 2000). Although NGOs cannot avoid this funding source completely, they need to recognize the power asymmetries between donors and customers (Power et al., 2002; Tvedt, 2002) and reduce their heavy reliance on outside funding which presents threats to their performance.

Conclusion

This article has reviewed both positive and negative consequences of two NGOs in Bangladesh. We have seen that both NGOs brought two disadvantaged communities into the mainstream development. Both NGOs created a substantial amount of social capital through social networking and partnership with many GOs and NGOs. Their initiative towards community awareness, skills development training, income generation activities, social trust, problem assessment capacities, savings and leadership skills helped to empower these disadvantaged communities. The overall impacts brought positive social change into their livelihoods. If we compare the findings of this study with the definitions provided by Ledwith (2005), Kenny (2011), Mendes and Binns (2013), Ife (2008), Malki (2006) and Lynn (2008), we would conclude that both NGOs’ contributions for community development were relatively successful. The negative consequences were a lack of consultation and dialogue with the local people; the NGOs’ commercial attitude and political involvement; a lack of the legitimization of NGOs’ use of imported foreign development tools and frameworks; and a lack of local people’s development ownership. In the end, the article proposes some suggestions for the NGOs for greater impacts towards community development.

First, the NGOs should be more dedicated to providing services for the disadvantaged communities, such as blacksmiths and goldsmiths. Second, the NGOs’ role should be non-political, impartial, free and fair. NGOs must attend to their ‘image’ through improving social trust. Third, the NGOs should be empowered in terms of their control of management, fund allocation and financial capability. The NGOs should place emphasis on the local resource mobilization, rather than depend on the foreign donations. Foreign donations may be encouraged, but attention should be paid to the organization’s autonomy. Fourth, the NGOs should give space to the local people, where their choices, demands and suggestions can be replicated so that they can own the development process. As a matter of urgency, NGOs need to formulate their own development policies and frameworks according to the local context, rather than follow those from ‘foreign’ or ‘imported’ contexts. Fifth, some measures should be taken immediately for eliminating NGOs’ legitimate concerns, which include appropriate rules for registering NGOs, guidelines delineating their scope of activities, procedures for auditing their accounts, and codes of conduct defining the behaviour of NGO managers and employees. The government should introduce specific sets of rules and institutions to regulate recruitment, promotion, compensation, budgets, loans and interest rates in various NGOs. Moreover, it may be necessary to withdraw the special privileges enjoyed by NGOs (such as tax exemptions and low-interest loans) once they venture into profit-making businesses. Finally, the anti-corruption laws and agencies that apply to public servants and private sector employees can also be used to regulate the behaviour of NGO managers and employees. All these regulatory measures would help streamline the excessive scope, numbers, roles and powers of NGOs, and increase their accountability to citizens (Haque, 2002). Finally, the NGOs should target the local people, who are disadvantaged and who really need the NGOs’ help to become self-reliant.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

This article is based on author’s PhD work completed in the University of Nottingham, England. The author acknowledges his Supervisor Professor W.J. Morgan. The author also thanks two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Author biography

M Rezaul Islam is Professor in Social Work at the Institute of Social Welfare & Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is currently Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Administration & Justice, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After completion of his MSW and PhD from the University of Nottingham, England, his research interests have included non-governmental organizations’ role in community development, child protection, poverty and human rights, and labour force in Bangladesh and Asia. Over the past 17 years, he has been actively involved in developing and promoting research opportunities for international exchange partnerships with a number of international funding agencies, namely, UNICEF, UNESCO, USAID, ILO, UNDP, World Bank, Concern Universal and Concern Worldwide.

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