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RETHINKING POVERTY: THE ROLE OF 
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS IN 

GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT 

Eusebius, Smalla, Mengo, Ceciliab and Brendon, Oforic 

 

ABSTRACT 

Resource inequity and disparity between nations and communities is 
a significant social problem.  The consequences of such inequities 
are immense and are compounded by governments’ failure to find 
lasting solutions.  International organizations have stepped in to fill 
the gap; however, their efficacy is fairly undocumented.  Using 
social choice and chaos frameworks, we explore through a literature 
review and field experiences the work of three NGOs operating in 
six different countries highlighting the efficacy of Community Based 
Participatory Research (CBPR).  Practice recommendations are 
provided that underscore the relevancy of a skilled workforce, great 
management, as well as an objective environment independent of 
bureaucratic coercion. 

KEY TERMS: Chaos Theory, inequalities, poverty reduction, 
international organizations, Social Choice Theory, grassroots 
development 

 

 a Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Arlington School of 
Social Work, Contacts: esmall@uta.edu, 211 S. Cooper, Bld. A., Ste. 
201, Arlington, Texas, TX 76019     
b Doctoral Student, University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work: 
Contacts: 211 S. Cooper Street, Suite SWCA-313, Arlington, Texas, TX 
76013 
cMSW Student, University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work. 
Contacts: 211 S. Cooper, Bld. A., Ste. 201, Arlington, Texas, TX 76019.  

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INTRODUCTION 

Despite efforts by governments to narrow social inequity, major 

economic, social and political struggles still persist. Today, half of 

the global population live on less than $2.50 a day (Henderson & 

Cooper, 2004; World Bank, 2012). A majority of these 3 billion 

people reside in developing countries. Given that the vast 

concentrations of wealth are in the hands of a few individuals, i.e. 

less than 1% of individuals own over a third of the world’s wealth, 

this gap is unsustainable (Credit Suisse Research Institute, 2010). 

The paper highlights the important work some governments and 

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) have done to mitigate 

these social ills. 

BACKGROUND 

The social consequences resulting from economic disequilibrium are 

immense. Yet still, very little public appetite from governments and 

corporations exist to undertake the macro progress necessary to 

address the needs of vulnerable and underserved populations. 

Frequently, governments and private corporations do choose narrow 

economic paths in rewarding their stake holders and ignore the safe 

and secure economic path of property rights, honest public service 

and novelty.  These forces hold economies back.  Although reducing 

social disparity is complex and may require the engagement of 

public and private partnerships; finding sound approaches to solving 

these perennial problems is important.  Urbanization has been a long 

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term drain on the economic vitality for most of the developing 

world, affecting rural communities as well as the urban.  Decades of 

poverty, inhumane living conditions, congestion, and social unrest 

have contributed to a distrusting society that finds their governments 

unresponsive to their needs.  While some governments have made 

great progress, fewer have recognized the potent institutional social 

liabilities--illiteracy, poverty, misgovernment and cronyism that 

often extricate wealth and pull societies backwards.  Drawing from 

our extensive literature review on the work of NGOs as well as our 

own field experience, we contend that collaborative partnerships 

between governments and NGOs can make a difference in creating 

sustainable wealth. 

RELEVANCE OF NGOS 

 

NGOs have played an important role in addressing the social needs 

of communities and have pushed for long lasting and sustainable 

development (International Institute for Sustainable Development 

([IISD] 2013).  Unlike governments and corporations that might be 

bounded by competing interests, NGOs attempt to analyze social 

problems with neutrality, and cooperatively, together with the 

community, articulate necessary steps in addressing these needs.  

NGOs nurture and capture the social resiliencies available in the 

community by galvanizing the naturally available capacity to finding 

needed solutions.  Through health literacy promotions, disease 

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eradication initiatives, innovation and economic empowerment, 

NGOs significantly contribute to the social welfare (IISD, 2013).  

Further, NGOs understand the scope and social consequences of 

poverty and its potential to ignite social unrest.  The invisible 

liabilities (e.g. lack of skills, mismanagement, illiteracy 

underutilization of resources etc.) can strangle development and 

cultivate a culture of dependency (Kling & Schulz, 2009).  These 

liabilities pave the way for corruption, political gamesmanship and a 

sustained token economy (material reinforcers) that could cause 

social unrest. Social unrest, defined as the general condition of a 

society where movement in a confused manner is both regular and 

widespread, emerge as a collective reaction to the perceived 

discontent over unjust social arrangement (Social Unrest, 2013). 

CAUSES OF SOCIAL UNREST 

Political scientists have struggled to explain the causes of social 

unrest to encompass social, political, economic, and environmental 

causes (McAdam, 1983); food scarcity and food price increases, 

(Dowe, Haupt, Langewiesche, Sperber, 2001; Stevenson & Quinault, 

1975); variations in international commodity, climate change (Zhang 

et al., 2011; Burke, Miguel, Satyanath, Dykema, Lobell, 2009) and 

demographic changes, (Goldstone, 1993).  It is theorized that social, 

economic, and political tensions accumulate gradually over time and 

spike into sudden outbursts of unrest, causing contagious turmoil 

(Dowe et al., 2001; Burke et al., 2009).  When a citizen of an 

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http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=John+Stevenson&search-alias=books&text=John+Stevenson&sort=relevancerank
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_2?ie=UTF8&field-author=Roland+Quinault&search-alias=books&text=Roland+Quinault&sort=relevancerank


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underdeveloped nation, for example, faces a development gap in an 

already “flattened world” as Thomas Friedman would 

metaphorically define globalization and its impact, (2005), 

destabilization forces are potentially inevitable.  For example, the 

average income in Africa is less than $2,000 a year per person, 

compared to the United States which is more than $30,000 (Kling & 

Schulz, 2009).  This gap holds societies back and encourages 

corruption by rewarding those who expropriate wealth than those 

who create wealth.  This is a constant source of conflict. 

Understanding the push factors to conflicts is helpful.  Because 

NGOs in essence, operate in a non-political climate and are 

impartial; they help narrow the social knowledge gap by sharing and 

stimulating bottom-up innovative and community-based projects.  

Empirical as well as experiential knowledge has shown that 

governments who have robust economic systems operate within a 

framework of working legal systems, rule of law, and a functioning 

social and economic protocol (Tebaldi & Mohan, 2010).  Poor social 

arrangements and political institutions are invisible liabilities that 

can stifle innovation (Kling & Schulz, 2009).  For example, where 

there are weak property rights and unchecked government power 

such as in Zimbabwe and North Korea, prosperity can be elusive 

(Kling & Schulz, 2009).  Hong Kong, Singapore, and Israel on the 

other hand, are exemplars of relative robust operating system of 

rules, customs and standards that even in the absence of natural 

resources, for example, can galvanize economic prosperity.  The 

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social norms of a country, often related to culture, institutions, 

religion, national ethics and values, play a significant role in 

explaining social inequality (Haferkamp & Smelser, 1992).  South 

Korea, for example, is one of the richest countries in the world 

today; North Korea, however, still grapples with enormous 

backwardness and abject poverty. Although the culture between the 

South and North Korea today is very different, the Korean peninsula 

has a long period of common history dating back to before the 

Korean War where the two countries had unprecedented 

homogeneity in language, ethnicity, and culture (Acemoglu & 

Robinson, 2012).   What sets these two countries apart, for most 

part, are the political and economic pathways they have adopted.  

Building on the strengths of international organizations, we 

document how grassroots mobilization and community engagement 

can play a role in social and economic development.  

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 

In his writing on the social chaos theory, Priesmeyer (1992) stressed 

the concept of future locale and how it is determined by its current 

position of competing burgeoning forces. Chaos is described as a 

situation of sensitive interplay of events, dependent on the initial 

conditions where a small shift in one place can affect social and 

cultural stability (Priesmeyer, 1992). Historical epochs in pre-

colonial, colonial and post-colonial period may have contributed to 

disequilibrium in the existing social, economic and political locale, 

creating the potential for instability (see figure 1). 

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Figure 1: Conceptual pathways of social-economic 
disequilibrium (Source: Priesmeyer, 1992)  

 

A functioning government needs solid institutions that are sustained 

by the rule of law. Economic growth has been realized in most of the 

developed world, while in poor countries, we see stagnation, poverty 

and desolations (Kling & Schulz, 2009).  International NGOs work 

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in isolated communities to identify intangible community capital 

such as, valuable skills that supplement unskilled labor.  In fact, in 

poor countries where NGOs operate, namely, the democratic 

Republic of Congo, Nigeria, etc., the United Nations report 

consistent registration of negative wealth per person, defined as the 

average negative worker’s output (Lewis, 2004). The lack of skilled 

workforce as is in these countries pulls economies backward, thus 

the negative wealth output. 

Utilizing the perspective of the Social Choice theory, NGOs 

understand that people afflicted by poverty would better their life by 

participating in activities of their choice to bring about the change 

they want.  This can be done through building mutual community 

partnerships.  NGOs act as catalysts of change for community 

developmental goals.  Social Choice theory proposes that societal 

well-being is measured in the ability to evaluate and assess the 

potential capacity available in the community and to harness the 

existing human potential for a genuine collective social action 

(Atkinson, 1999).  Primarily, Social Choice may explain economic 

growth and how societies balance the tradeoffs between community 

needs and resource availability (See figure 2).  Choices are made to 

improve the social conditions in the country; conditions that could 

make or break the country.  Mokyr discusses this phenomenon of 

choice selection as a “brake analogy” where cultures may serve as 

parking brakes against innovation, growth, and progress (1992).  

Conservative religious practices for example, and/or unequal 

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treatment of people under the law can stifle the human spirit for 

innovation (Elster, 1990).  

NGOS AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION 

 

The work of NGOs is to leverage efforts that can accelerate, not 

break, the expansion of the human capacity present in the 

community and jump-start communities’ economic participation.  

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) for example, is 

one way that has been utilized by some NGOs to bring about 

sustainable development.  It is a collaborative approach that engages 

“local stakeholders” in research as they are the most impacted and 

are “owners of the issue(s)” (O'Toole, Felix-Aaron, Chin, Horowitz 

& Tyson, 2003).  Initiatives have to be transformative, truly 

inclusive, participatory, and more than short term development 

projects (Lederach & Jenner, 2002).  GROOTS International is a 

good model that uses analytical and strategic approaches to 

community development (Moser and Sparr, 2007).  Save the 

Children, UK, harnesses capacity building at the country level to 

link micro interventions with national policy work in countries 

where they operate (Moser & Sparr, 2007).  

Figure 2: State of equilibrium in the lens of social choice theory 

(Source:  Priesmeyer, 1992) 

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SPECIFIC NGO ROLES 

We define an NGO as any independent, not-for-profit organization 

established voluntarily to address community specific concerns.  

NGOs address social needs and act collectively with the community 

to meet those needs.  Because they are independent, they are self-

managed through a board of trustees, entrusted in making decisions 

on behalf of the organization. Being not-for-profit does not mean 

NGOs cannot engage in profit-generating activities, but rather they 

use the profits or revenue generated to advance the organization’s 

causes.  As voluntary organizations, NGOs are not confined by the 

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politics of the countries’ they operate into but are guided by 

established statues governing all NGOs in the country.  

NGOs engage in diverse activities that are geared toward a cause to 

help the communities’ needs.  While we highlight these activities of 

the NGOs, we recognize that the success of their operations can 

overwhelmingly be met when there is a relatively functioning, stable 

political system, consisting of rules, customs, standards, and 

protocols.  Governments’ collaborative efforts are important because 

they provide a platform as willing partners in welcoming 

international NGOs into the country and ensuring their safety as they 

operate in usually remote communities.  Successful NGOs 

understand that a framework where knowledge is rooted in the belief 

that, the most impacted by the problem, should take the lead in 

framing the research questions, in designing study methods and in 

determining the outcomes they want.  

IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL COLLABORATION FOR NGOS 

In their analysis of the different strategies utilized by NGOs in 

poverty reduction, Moser and Sparr, (2007) have pointed out that 

project implementation and evaluation has often been devoid of 

maximum community participation due to structural challenges.  A 

lack of community participation hinders economic development in a 

number of ways as outlined by Goodman et al. (1998) and 

Freudenberg, (2004).  An encouraging practice is the partnership of 

NGOs and other civil society organizations (CSOs) as well as 

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working with multiple United Nations agencies in addressing 

common programmatic needs.  In Rwanda for example, CSOs and 

UNDP (The United Nations Development Program) joined forces 

with UNCDF (United Nations Capital Development Fund) to 

implement a decentralization program in the Rulindo District.  

Evidence-based participatory planning helped the local government 

build infrastructure that meets the needs of communities, such as 

bridges that connect farmers to their markets and children to schools.  

The Netherland Development Organization (SNV), a Netherlands 

NGO and UNDP facilitated local communities in Niger to work with 

mayors to design a new system for local revenue collection and to 

rehabilitate schools and health centers. 

In Liberia, UNDP helped reactivate the National Vacation Job 

Program.  As a result, youth who had dropped out of school are now 

able to return to school quickly and can acquire useful job skills.  In 

Tanzania, UNDP and Unilever, worked to develop a local value 

chain of Allanblackia oil, a substitute to palm oil used in production 

of soap, margarine and spreads.  By 2010, farmers participating in 

the project, of which 47 percent are women, collected 500 tons of 

Allanblackia oil from the forest and planted trees, securing an 

additional source of income to pay for school fees for their children, 

food, health care, and agricultural inputs (UNDP, 2012). 

On a much smaller scale, The Collective for Orphan Care and 

Education, a small NGO was established to respond to continued 

social, economic and educational needs of youth in western Kenya.  

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Its mission is to work together with the local community to improve 

the health, education and well-being of vulnerable youth.  Because 

one major problem identified by the community was a lack of 

educational opportunities for the youth, The Collective for Orphan 

Care and Education has been able to mobilize partners in enabling 

young boys and girls to receive educational scholarships for their 

educational needs.  For example, the agency has been working with 

a local primary school, Bukhulungu Primary, whose majority of 

children have been orphaned by HIV to build classrooms for 

children to learn.  The community has identified resources available 

within and has embarked on a volunteer program where recent 

graduates and retirees can come to the school and teach young boys 

and girls how to read to improve academic success.  This also gives 

community members an opportunity to give back and invest in 

others.  It has also embarked on a collaborative endeavor, working 

with the community and their international partner to build a 

community center that will house programs for children attending 

the school - a food program, a teenage pregnancy prevention 

program, information and counselling about HIV/AIDS, and a 

library.  These efforts are accomplished through partnering with the 

locals for the good of the community.  

That said, there is still more work to be done.  Common problems 

associated with NGOs include, centralization of expertise which 

makes people not to feel a part of the help or change process.  This 

can cause unresponsiveness from the people disallowing them to buy 

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into the fundamentals of the organization.  Competing interests 

between groups for resources can also prevent healthy 

collaborations.  Since change or development efforts usually require 

empowerment of people, absence of local support could cause 

development efforts to lack sustainability in the long run.  A change 

or developmental process might also be considerably slower if 

immediate action cannot be mobilized through committed local 

participants.  

Another problem is the lack of engagement of the local population.  

Not employing locals in collaborative efforts could lead to a more 

expensive change process or service delivery.  This could mean that 

cheaper local resources might not be employed despite their 

abundance.  Culture can play a big difference in the way needs are 

perceived by people.  If local participation is not sought for 

programs/projects, cultural incompetence could lead to failure since 

the program might not be meeting the needs of its mission.  New 

insights and ideas might also be overlooked if local participation is 

neglected.  As a result, an effective partnership of International 

organizations partnering through community based participatory 

research should specifically show how research may be utilized in 

efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality.  This kind of partnership 

will help to answer questions like:  Are there any policy makers that 

are ready to be committed to the issues that are being raised?  Are 

there democratic decision making processes among partners that 

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ensure that individual and collective choices have been factored in 

before any decision is reached? 

RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE 
RESEARCH 
 
There are many factors that influence the strategies utilized by 

NGOs in poverty eradication.  In particular, CBPR is a strategy that 

has been widely utilized as a form of participatory or empowerment 

research by different entities and with different populations.  

However, one major problem still looms in regard to the level of 

involvement of key participants in all the phases.  Embedded rules, 

rituals, routines, and beliefs within the structure of NGOs could lead 

to a bureaucratic red tape.  Nevertheless, CBPR remains the most 

utilized form of research that engages communities in identifying 

issues that affect their personal wellbeing.  Moreover, finding a 

testable model to combine concepts of social choice theory, social 

chaos theory and CBPR in addressing the sustainability of NGOs 

will be significant.  The emerging model can be utilized in 

strengthening the partnerships of NGOs and people afflicted by 

poverty. 

CONCLUSION 

 NGOs in partnership with grassroots organizations must create a 

platform and support for individuals and groups to empower them 

for self-sustenance and skill development.  Such organizations have 

to be formed and managed by the people themselves, not for them.  

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For this to succeed, a community has to be foresighted, highly 

motivated and selflessly committed, and have an altruistic 

leadership. Finally, the objective of the present paper was to analyze 

the contributions of NGOs in engaging local community 

stakeholders to meeting the needs of the community. We argue that 

participatory research can be key in stimulating development. We 

have built this argument by considering “five faces” by which to 

assess the significance of NGOs: (1) relevance of an NGO; (2) 

uncovering the causes of social unrest/problems; (3) utilizing 

appropriate theoretical framework; (4) community involvement; and 

(5) governance. We conclude that NGOs, governments and 

communities can work together in Knowledge exchange, skill 

development, communication, and education dispensation.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=Harry+F.+Lee&sortspec=date&submit=Submit
http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=Cong+Wang&sortspec=date&submit=Submit
http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=Baosheng+Li&sortspec=date&submit=Submit
http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=Qing+Pei&sortspec=date&submit=Submit
http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=Jane+Zhang&sortspec=date&submit=Submit
http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=Yulun+An&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

