Fall 2004

LAS 381 • NONGOV ORGS IN DEVEL WORLDS

Course Description

As a result of the worldwide economic stagnation even mature welfare states such as Sweden and Germany have been forced to reexamine their publicly funded social service systems. International competition, low economic growth rates, and elevated citizen expectations have placed serious strains on the State¡¯s ability to provide retirement, health, educational, and other social services. Less developed and poorer nations have never been able to provide all of the services that their citizens need. At the same time, demographic changes including migration and female labor force participation have reduced the family¡¯s ability to cope with the needs of its members. Non-governmental and philanthropic organizations have traditionally attempted to fill the void left by the State¡¯s inability to provide the full range of services to its citizens. Today non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become even more important in providing social services to a wide range of people, and their number and variation in organizational forms have proliferated. NGOs vary from informal small-scale local grassroots community efforts to international multi-lateral initiatives and quasi-governmental organization with large staffs and budgets. This course examines the role of NGOs in providing social services in the developed and developing worlds. It examines their history, their structure and financing, and the nature of the problems these organizational forms are best suited to address. It examines the consequences of professionalization on organizational structure, performance, and the evaluation of outcomes. The course also examines the potential role of NGOs in fostering community participation in the solution of social problems and their role in the development of a sense of citizenship.

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