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Understanding voluntary organizations: guidelines for donors

L. David Brown and David C. Korten

No 258, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Voluntary development organizations have demonstrated substantial comparatiave advantage in developing countries - especially in their ability to innovate, adapt to local conditions, and reach and work with poor and difficult to reach populations. These capabilities are a function of their values, special skills, small size, limited resources, flexibility, and freedom from political constraints. Their weaknesses are a function of many of the same characteristics - particularly their value commitments, small size, independence, and lack of administrative rigidity. The authors explain that the strongest Voluntary Organizations (VOs) and People's Organizations (POs) respond to more than financial incentives. Their strength lies in the fact that they are not the same as government organizations or businesses. At the same time, they are not immune to financial incentives, which if wrongly applied can destroy the voluntarism of all but the most strongly aware of VOs and POs.

Keywords: Environmental Economics&Policies; Early Child and Children's Health; Health Economics&Finance; Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Poverty Assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989-09-30
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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