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NGOS AND DEVELOPMENT

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Globalization of Media ­MCM404
VU
Lesson 19
NGOS AND DEVELOPMENT
Text of one handout for students
Note:  This handout which is titled: "Working with the poor" is meant to provide students with a
background to the specific social context in which attempts can be made to form small, non-official
organizations that are also called: "community-based organizations" (CBOs) and which are the smallest
versions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The text of this handout concentrates exclusively on the sociology, the psychology and the organizational
technology relevant to that segment of society which has the lowest levels of income i.e. the poor and / or
the poorest, who most need and deserve support in development but who are also the most difficult segment
of society to work with in the conventional sense.
The handout is a chapter in the book titled: "Storms and Rainbows" by Javed Jabbar published by Summit
Media and Royal Book Company, BG-5, Rex Centre, Zebunnissa Street, Karachi 74400, Tel: 5684244,
5653418, e-mail: royalbook@hotmail.com.
Working with the poor
Social mobilization, in the context of development in general and South Asia in particular refers to the
process by which the poor and the disadvantaged segments of society are sensitized to the full range of their
human, civic, social and political rights.
They are also made aware of their responsibilities, despite being poor and disadvantaged. The poor should be
informed about case studies from other approximately similar situations in which people sharing the same
problems that they do were able to initiate change for the better in their lives through new forms of
organization and collective action.
The most deprived segment of society has to be persuaded to either refine or strengthen any existing
community organizations which already exist amongst the poor and disadvantaged or facilitated to establish
new organizations that will harness their shared energies towards collective betterment.
Once the poor have decided on the particular organizational form they wish to use, they have to be trained in
the crafts and skills of establishing and operating effective organizations of the poor, including the
methodology of how to present their perceptions and their proposals seeking the alleviation of their suffering,
to the relevant and selected target groups in society which can extend support to them.
In the context of demographic location, the poor can be concentrated in a particular, geographically defined
area or, equally, be scattered or spread over an entire province of our country. But as social mobilization in
this context refers to the poor and the disadvantaged, it would not apply to areas where the rich and the
upper income groups reside, though it would be helpful to also engage them in a larger alliance.
Social mobilization has a comprehensive and all-embracing connotation and suggests that, by the use of the
word; "social", the process applies to the totality of a given community's existence. This indeed normally is,
and should be the goal of social mobilization i.e. to have a pervasive and far-reaching dimension.
However, there are instances where the crucial early and formative phases of social mobilization have taken
place through limited and selective "entry points" such as through the provision of only one or two services
which are desperately needed by the poor for sheer survival alone. Such early interventions can be of an
urgent, "life saving" nature, where the poor are faced by famine or drought or epidemics. Those promoting
social mobilization in such an area, either from within the poor or from external groups, bring emergency
relief and, in the process create a relationship of rapport and trust with the community.
Nevertheless, in its basic sense, social mobilization demands a "holistic" approach rather than a sectoral
approach which deals only with parts of the problem as opposed to going to the core of the issue which alone
would tap the potential of any group.
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Globalization of Media ­MCM404
VU
The poor investigate their own reality by living it from day to night every single day of their lives. But it is
only when they create a separate, and in a sense, a detached and eternal entity which perfectly mirrors their
conditions and which would be a truly participatory organization of the poor. It is only then that the poor
acquire, and are able to use a "scientific" approach towards changing their conditions.
In forming an organization it may be unavoidable for the poor to be initially dependent on, or to be led by
money and inputs delivered from an external source. This is not an ideal condition but, in the kind of
deprived environment in which they live it may be unavoidable.
The crucial phase comes when, by using Participatory Rural Appraisal or any other similar process, the poor
become more conscious of their condition and their resources. The organization of the poor is able to make
the transition from exclusive dependence on an external source for inputs and money towards a partial
dependence only, while commencing to generate its own resources.
It is like helping a person who has been lying flat on the ground for too long and whose blood circulation and
muscle tone are not used to standing up and walking. In such a condition, being helped to stand up and to
take the first few steps is an absolute necessity to initiate movement. Once the blood begins to flow and the
muscles begin to support action, then the body is able to walk without support.
The crucial test is for the process of collective investigation of reality to remain consistent and strong as the
spiral moves through mobilization, conscientisation and organization.
Despite efforts to empower the poor there is an inherent tendency for the poorest of the poor to get "left
out" or be bypassed because they lack even the most basic attributes that are necessary for any external
stimuli or input to be effectively applied.
To attempt an analogy to explain this phenomenon: the poorest of the poor can often be like a blank flat
wall. When an organizational initiative seeks to take place, there is no nail or hook embodied in the wall or an
indentation of any kind on the basis of which any new element can be made to inter-act with the wall. With
neither literacy, nor health, nor much hope for change, the poorest of the poor may often be steeped in
apathy so deep that it becomes difficult to mobilize them in any sustained manner.
Similarly, so very much at the bottom are the poorest of the poor that to expect them to be, or to become
self-reliant in what is known as a "reasonable" period of time becomes unrealistic. Perhaps the only
consolation is that, just as in the "trickle down" effect by which prosperity is supposed to go from the rich to
the poor, it may be possible for some alleviation of poverty to go from the poor down to the poorest.
Thus, in a curious way, it may be better to begin by working with the poor and strengthening the organization
of the poor before reaching down ­­ or up! ­­ to the very poorest. We can only reach the peak of Mount-
Everest if the camp at the highest level of the mountain is firmly secure. In recent years, the support system
has begun to be sensitized and re-oriented.
This is inevitably a slow and difficult process of change because the support system is operated by
bureaucracies or officially supported systems that have a pre-cast approach to the poor.
Whether this is expressed through the "bricks and mortar" approach of the support system that prefers to
construct buildings and place the rudiments of a health delivery system inside the building and wait for the
poor to walk towards the building and get "health", or whether it is the traditional educational system that
imposes curriculum and text books containing messages and text that have little to do with the reality in
which they live, the support system is a large, multi-faceted structure controlled by forces at a great distance
from the poor.
Nevertheless, due to a variety of factors including advocacy by NGOs in the media, the general and visible
increase in disparities and in poverty, the work for relief done by NGOs the support system has begun to
become more sensitive to the reality of the poor as is evident in the willingness to consider and implement
new programmes for out-reach services, microcredit and mobile health-care.
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Table of Contents:
  1. THE UNIQUE NATURE OF THE PAKISTANI NATION-STATE
  2. “PAKISTAN: THE FIRST 11 YEARS 1947-1958” PART 1
  3. “PAKISTAN: THE FIRST 11 YEARS 1947-1958”PART-2
  4. ROOTS OF CHAOS: TINY ACTS OR GIANT MIS-STEPS?
  5. “FROM NEW HOPES TO SHATTERED DREAMS: 1958-1971”
  6. “RENEWING PAKISTAN: 1971-2005” PART-I: 1971-1988
  7. RENEWING PAKISTAN: PART II 1971-2005 (1988-2005)
  8. THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN, PARTS I & II
  9. THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN, PARTS I & II:Changing the Constitution
  10. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN:Senate Polls: Secrecy Breeds Distortion
  11. THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN:A new role for the Election Commission
  12. “POLITICAL GROUPINGS AND ALLIANCES: ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES”
  13. THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AND INTEREST GROUPS
  14. “THE POPULATION, EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS OF PAKISTAN”
  15. THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT POLICY 2005:Environment and Housing
  16. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY 2005:The National Policy, Sectoral Guidelines
  17. THE CHILDREN OF PAKISTAN:Law Reforms, National Plan of Action
  18. “THE HEALTH SECTOR OF PAKISTAN”
  19. NGOS AND DEVELOPMENT
  20. “THE INFORMATION SECTOR OF PAKISTAN”
  21. MEDIA AS ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL POWER:Directions of National Security
  22. ONE GLOBE: MANY WORLDS
  23. “THE UNITED NATIONS” PART-1
  24. “THE UNITED NATIONS” PART-2
  25. “MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGS)”:Excerpt
  26. “THE GLOBALIZATION: THREATS AND RESPONSES – PART-1”:The Services of Nature
  27. THE GLOBALIZATION: THREATS AND RESPONSES – PART-2”
  28. “WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)”
  29. “THE EUROPEAN UNION”:The social dimension, Employment Policy
  30. “REGIONAL PACTS”:North America’s Second Decade, Mind the gap
  31. “OIC: ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE”
  32. “FROM SOUTH ASIA TO SAARC”:Update
  33. “THE PAKISTAN-INDIA RELATIONSHIP”
  34. “DIMENSIONS OF TERRORISM”
  35. FROM VIOLENT CONFLICT TO PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE
  36. “OIL AND BEYOND”
  37. “PAKISTAN’S FOREIGN POLICY”
  38. “EMERGING TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS”
  39. “GLOBALIZATION OF MEDIA”
  40. “GLOBALIZATION AND INDIGENIZATION OF MEDIA”
  41. “BALANCING PUBLIC INTERESTS AND COMMERCIAL INTERESTS”
  42. “CITIZENS’ MEDIA AND CITIZENS’ MEDIA DIALOGUE”
  43. “CITIZENS’ MEDIA RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES”Exclusive Membership
  44. “CITIZENS’ PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING”:Forming a Group
  45. “MEDIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY”