Conservation Science and NGOs

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically investigate competition within the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector, and presents some strategic approaches to managing it. Porter’s five forces (1980) model was used as a theoretical framework to understand and quantify competition in the NGO sector, as well as to explore the differences between NGOs’ budget sizes. Traditional strategic management often fails to meet NGOs’ needs. While economization is prevalent within the NGO sector, little is known about how NGOs address competition. Design/methodology/approach – An online global survey was conducted between November 2010 and May 2011. Data were collected from 1,211 NGOs that either function as consultants or work in association with the United Nations (UN). The key informants were leaders and executive managers of NGOs. The respondents’ fields of work varied from international advocacy and development (38 per cent), education and research (14 per cent), community and neighborhood (8 per cent), health (8 per cent), environment (8 per cent) and social services (7 per cent) to civil liberty (6 per cent), labor (6 per cent), culture (3 per cent), philanthropy (2 per cent) and religion (1 per cent). Findings – The findings suggest that the NGO sector is becoming increasingly competitive. However, the data suggest that the lower and upper budget classes have different priorities and perceptions. Small NGOs (with budgets <USD250,000 and especially <USD10,000) compete more aggressively for funding, as they have less bargaining power over donors and large foundations, and face stronger competition from social entrepreneurship. This results in income reductions. Large NGOs (with budgets >USD250,000 USD and especially >USD1 million) experience increased pressure for accountability. Research limitations/implications – This research is aimed at a wide range of NGOs. The findings are based on an empirical and open survey that was held among NGOs in association with the UN. Future research should survey NGOs that are not associated with the UN to generalize the results. This may lead to contradictory or more varied results. Practical implications – The findings can help NGOs adapt their strategy to cope more effectively with increasing competition in the sector. Large NGOs seem to prioritize fundraising measures and their positioning (uniqueness) through specialized knowledge. Small NGOs, on the other hand, seem to consider sharing resources, co-operation with other NGOs and co-operation with the private sector slightly more important. To enhance their competitive position, small NGOs are advised to improve their potential by concentrating on developing specific skills that are hard to imitate and to improve their fundraising measures. Finally, large NGOs could benefit from pooling their resources and collaborating with other NGOs and private organizations. Originality/value – NGOs have to pursue their missions under increasing competitive pressure. This paper comprehensively assesses competition, analyzes the various facets thereof and tests these aspects’ relevance to NGOs. It furthermore proposes strategies that are more appropriate for NGOs of different sizes to cope with this competition.

Offline: Uncivil society

Can a conservation-oriented scientific society remain relevant in the 21st century?

Restricting NGOs: From Pushback to Accommodation

The role of (environmental) non-governmental organizations at the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and at the London Dumping Convention (LDC)

The concept of work in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) specifically in Songkhla province of Thailand is highlighted in this paper. The study assumed that the meaning of work in NGOs is different from other types of organizations such as business and governmental organizations. NGO operations are seen to be different in terms of their goals when compared to those organizations. Even though research on work had been widely conducted in the business as well as the governmental sectors worldwide, few studies on this issue had been done in the NGO or non-profit sector. The concept of work in NGOs needs to be explored further in order for interested parties to get a true understanding of the nature of work in NGO sector. The research questions posed in this paper relate to how and why the work in NGOs influences the NGO professionals. The objective of this paper is to present some findings based on an in-depth study on the meaning of work in NGOs. This study consists of two core aspects of work: subjective and objective aspects. The respondents in this paper were 16 professionals (i.e. university graduates) selected from five local NGOs in Songkhla province of Thailand. This study used a mixed method within qualitative approach comprising in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and secondary documents. This study showed that the NGO professionals had given high values on the subjective aspects of work because they were seeking fulfillment from work, while the objective aspects of work were seen to be less important to them.

Over the past two decades, the role of non government organizations (NGOs) in economic development has received increasing attention. Current development literature claims that NGOs have more positive characteristics than government organizations (GOs). Moreover, common people, donor agencies and governments have come to expect better performances from NGOs. Yet, there are few systematic evaluations of their general activities and even fewer of their programs, which are aimed at women. This study aims, in part, to fill this gap.The study evaluates the performance of NGOs' economic development programs for women beneficiaries in compare to GO's economic development program. To identify the extent of effectiveness of NGO programs the study compares the performances of the economic development programs of NGOs with those of government organizations (GOs). The evaluation process includes a case study.The evaluation is conducted with the help of a case study of the economic development programs of two NGOs and two GOs in two separate districts in the state of West Bengal in India. A semi-structured questionnaire survey of a sample of women, directly affected by the NGOs' and Gas' activities was used as the main method of gathering data. As well, group discussions were held with the beneficiaries and staff of the organizations was interviewed. In addition, organizational documents relevant to the program were examined.The study finds that the effectiveness for women beneficiaries of the NGOs' economic development programs is greater than that of the GOs' programs. A larger proportion of women from the NGOs' programs gained economic benefits than those from the GOs' programs. A large number of women are employed after completing the NGOs' programs. The NGO programs also lead to higher wage rates and less working hours for the women. The NGOs' women beneficiaries also develop better savings habits than those from the GOs. Moreover, the study finds the social impact of the NGOs' programs on its women beneficiaries is stronger than the GOs' programs. A larger proportion of the NGOs recipients has business knowledge and market links than the GOs' women. In addition, participation in the intra-family decision making process and mobility outside the home is better for the NGOs' women beneficiaries.Further, it is found that the economic benefits of the NGOs' programs reach the poorer sections of the society better than the GOs' programs. However, the study also finds that the benefits of the programs of both types of organization fail to reach the 'very poor' section of women. As well, women beneficiaries from better socio-economic backgrounds obtain higher benefits than the women beneficiaries from relatively lower socio-economic backgrounds. The case study finds that the greater success of the NGOs' economic development programs is due to a high level of participation of beneficiaries in the development process and high member accountability of the program implementing organization.The thesis concludes by suggesting the ways for NGOs to make their economic development programs more successful. The thesis argues that a simplified micro credit program and a skill-training program with better marketing networks may free women beneficiaries from the exploitation of middlemen traders and local moneylenders. It is also suggested that cooperation and partnership with government organizations in order to access raw materials at cheaper rates and marketing outlets for selling products is needed.However, the thesis points out that there needs to be overall economic growth within an area for the success of any NGO's program. If good infrastructural facilities including road, transport and electricity are available, and if local market demand for produced goods increases then an NGO's economic development programs will be more successful.

Iranian health nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) could play a variety of roles at many levels of Iran's health system, but their participation in the health sector is far from ideal. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify practical solutions for increasing the role and function of NGOs in the Iranian health system. This qualitative study was conducted between 2020 and 2021 in Tehran, Iran. The data for this study were gathered through 32 in-depth semi-structured interviews with 11 managers from the Ministry of Health as well as from Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences and 21 Chief executive officers and directors of health NGOs. Data were analyzed by the content analysis approach using the MAXQDA 10 software. The facilitators for expanding the function and roles of NGOs in Iran's health system are classified into two groups of legal and structural mechanisms. "The existence of mandatory laws," "government support for NGOs," "the formulation of standard strategic planning and goals," "the establishment of a database and a network of NGOs," and "the establishment of independent organizational units as the connectors and coordinators of NGOs' affairs in the public sector" are the critical facilitators for the improvement of NGOs' roles in Iran's health system. According to the findings of this study, only limited measures and efforts have been made to improve NGOs' roles and participation in the Iranian health system; at the same time, NGOs' participation in the health sector is far from ideal. Iranian health NGOs are at the beginning of this route, and they would inevitably require various legislative and structural mechanisms to succeed.

The role of NGOs in recognition and sustainable maintenance of customary forests within indigenous communities: The case of Kerinci, Indonesia

This article is dedicated to consideration of the role and place of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the context of social investment. The main role of NGOs in social investment is that they are social invertors, which is a driving force behind the implementation of many necessary for society projects. The acuteness of the issue of Ukraine’s recovery leads to a growing demand for new effective methods of interaction between the state and the society, which social investments from NGOs can become. From this point, the study of the characteristics of NGOs as social investors becomes especially relevant. So, the scientific novelty of the presented article is the determination of the specifics of NGOs as social investors, and its purpose is the analysis of the role and place of NGOs in social investment, their opportunities in the course of social investment. The author has used the following methods of scientific research: analysis, comparison, generalization and induction, analogies, abstract logic method. It has been established that the specificity of NGOs as social investors includes a number of important characteristics, including: greater (compared to other social investors) closeness to the problem, greater flexibility during investment implementation, opportunity to make not only financial investments, ability to perform various roles during social investments implementation, use of diversified sources of financing. The main resources that non-governmental organizations can invest are financial resources, material resources, employees’ work, time spent by NGO employees on work within the scope of social investment, their experience, knowledge and skills, their emotional resources. To determine the role of NGOs in social investment, two parameters are taken into account: 1) the ratio of financial and other types of investments, 2) the nature of the organization’s activities. According to the ratio of financial and other types of investments, NGOs can perform the role of direct investor, which means taking all the costs associated with the investment upon themselves, transferring all the funds necessary to solve a certain problem directly to the target group; or the role of donor, i.e. transfer their resources not directly to the target group, but to other organizations (including NGOs); or the role of donor and recipient at the same time, which means investing not only one’s own but also donor resources. Foreign researchers have identified the main roles of non-governmental organizations according to the nature of the organization’s activities, which are: the role of an investor, the role of a co-founder, the role of a provider, and the role of an experimenter.

Social and political scientists are involved in an extensive but inconclusive debate about the role of international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in European migration governance. The European Union (EU) and NGOs work under the assumption that NGOs are crucial to migration governance and yet the role of NGOs is not clear. The EU has invested time and money in its attempts to involve NGOs more actively in migration governance, but it does so without much knowledge of how ngos in the past have influenced migration governance, and thus with no idea if the current investments are worthwhile. In this article, which is the introduction to the special issue on this subject, we take a closer look at the NGOs involved in West European migration in the period from the 1860s until the present day in order to understand the changing role of NGOs in migration governance in Europe. Providing moral, logistical and expert authority in a purportedly impartial way, NGOs have added a dimension to migration governance that states cannot replicate. As a result, the number of NGOs has gradually increased and at times their influence has become significant. However, in providing a chronology of the involvement of NGOs in migration governance, we show that their influence on migration governance policies and practices has not been linear. During some windows of opportunity (e.g. in the immediate years following the First and Second World Wars and the Cold War), NGOs became more prominent and effective, while at other times (e.g. the 1930s), their importance waned. The presence and capacity of NGOs to contribute to migration governance depended on whether states, and increasingly after 1945, intergovernmental organisations such as the UN, needed them to further their own interests or to fulfil a role that they could not play.

As debates rage on about changes required to build a different future for the planet, the role of conservation nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) as the global watchdogs of sustainability is increasingly prominent, but also questioned, in the public sphere. Vigorous debates about the role and effects of conservation NGOs call for independent analysis and examination of contemporary challenges and solutions. This book aims to showcase and challenge some of the latest engagements between critical social science and conservation NGOs. The authors have sought to do this partly because they believe it to be fundamentally important. Through such engagements it is possible to learn more about the consequences and politics of conservation policy, the way in which organisations function, and the interactions between various epistemologies and epistemic communities. This is a productive and insightful area for both researchers and practitioners. The chapters that constitute this book showcase and debate some of the approaches that demonstrate these insights.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a vital role in promoting family rights and supporting vulnerable families worldwide. These organizations focus on addressing various social issues, such as child labor, abuse, and exploitation, while advocating for policies that protect children’s rights. NGOs provide essential services like education, healthcare, and nutritional aid to marginalized families, enhancing their socioeconomic status. They also engage in capacity building, community empowerment, and policy influence to create sustainable change. By collaborating with governments, communities, and policymakers, NGOs help ensure that vulnerable families receive the support they need to thrive. The study on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in promoting family rights and supporting vulnerable families revealed significant positive impacts. NGOs’ interventions in education, nutrition, and healthcare led to improved socioeconomic development outcomes for vulnerable families. The study found that NGOs’ education aid reduced financial burdens on families and improved learning experiences. Nutritional aid contributed to improved health and well-being, while health aid reduced financial burdens and improved access to healthcare. A statistically significant relationship was found between NGOs’ aid and the socioeconomic development of vulnerable families, indicating a strong correlation. Overall, the study highlights the crucial role NGOs play in supporting vulnerable families and promoting their socioeconomic development. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a vital role in promoting family rights and supporting vulnerable families. Their interventions in education, nutrition, and healthcare have a significant positive impact on socioeconomic development outcomes. By providing essential services and support, NGOs help alleviate poverty, improve health and well-being, and enhance access to education. The findings underscore the importance of NGOs’ work in empowering vulnerable families and promoting their socioeconomic development. Continued support and collaboration with NGOs are essential for ensuring the well-being and prosperity of vulnerable families and communities

The gap between research and practice is well known in environmental sciences and policy, particularly by practitioners. It is one thing to define important research questions and set priorities (Sutherland et al. 2009; Fleishman et al. 2011; Braunisch et al. 2012); it is quite another to create the right incentives to pursue them. Pressure to publish in top-tier, disciplinary journals is intense (Card & DellaVigna 2013). And because top-tier journals reflect the insular nature of the scientific process, where excellence is defined by novelty, elegance, and conceptual advance, rather than specific, applicable solutions to difficult problems, decks are often stacked against scientists exploring areas with immediate policy relevance. There is clear recognition—both within some academic institutions and within civil society organizations—that this condition reduces the impact and relevance of science on conservation policy and practice (Uriarte et al. 2007). Civil society organizations depend on knowledge creation from academic disciplines. If or because these organizations want a larger portion of academics to work on solutions to difficult problems with immediate relevance, they need to reduce the direct and indirect costs of that relevance. Civil society must provide stronger and more creative incentives to bring disciplinary experts together around the complex issues that will have the greatest impact on conservation success, and they need to work harder to define and communicate what these complex issues are. This issue extends beyond conservation, and in other domains, substantial investment has been put into building appropriate incentives. Examples include solution-centered competitions in global health and development (Novy-Hildesley 2010), prizes for grand innovation challenges (Brunt et al. 2012; Murray et al. 2012), and young innovator awards. Conservation communities can learn from these models, though clearly not without adapting them. Conservation issues are diverse, and many of the most important require coordination across many disciplines. Consider one example: An up-to-date, evidence-based estimate of the social cost of carbon would greatly benefit efforts to update government rules for the mitigation of climate change. For years, practitioners have been calling for collective effort, but progress has been slow. This is not surprising. Solutions to this problem will require large-scale research programs bringing together climate modelers, natural scientists, economists, and a host of practitioners. Without practical structures and incentives to support this work, such broad collaborative research is unlikely to attract top academic talent; opportunity costs are high, due in part to the coordination required for effective work across institutional boundaries (Cummings & Kiesler 2007). Thus, some of the most prominent economic models for the impact of climate change use climate damage estimates that have long lagged behind the latest science and that underestimate the full damages (Kopp & Mignone 2012). The official U.S. estimate for the social cost of carbon is just shy of $40/tons of CO2 (U.S. Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon 2013). That is, in fact, almost twice as high as 3 years ago (Greenstone et al. 2013). Yet some unofficial estimates suggest the true cost may much higher still (Pycroft et al. 2011; Ackerman & Stanton 2012; Dietz 2012; Kopp & Mignone 2012). This discrepancy has important economic and environmental consequences for setting policy, where benefit-cost calculations rely on the social cost of carbon for estimating the benefits of new and existing rules. Only now are we seeing emerging research examining the knowledge gaps in each relevant sector, a step often brokered by civil society. Any path forward will require increasing the pace of change in academic reward systems (Uriarte et al. 2007) through closer collaboration between practitioners and academic researchers, with much of the burden resting on the former. Civil society organizations need to use their convening power, audience outreach, funding capacity, and unique data to help shift research-funding priorities and expand the academic mandate (e.g., Colón-Rivera et al. 2013). All of this also helps spur researchers to answer immediately relevant policy questions and to work to create change from within rather than outside traditional academic incentive structures. One incentive is money. More funding is the most direct path to closing the incentive gap, but it is not a complete solution. Because the needs of conservation sciences are cross-disciplinary and collaborative and the deliverables often fall outside traditional academic success metrics (publication in high-impact journals), funding alone may not be effective. Academic disciplines are largely built on reputation economies with strong social backbones. This characteristic of academia points to the value of creating and sustaining networks that increase the national and international status of academics interested in maximizing the relevance of their work. Civil society may be best served by attracting the attention of early-career scientists and by establishing agile partnerships. The most important commodity for young scientists is time: US graduate students take 7–8 years on average to get their PhDs (Hoffer & Welch 2006). A good portion of that time is spent identifying research questions and collecting data. Putting more emphasis on organizing, curating, and communicating access to questions, data, and field support for research could allow civil society organizations to engage emerging academic talent with the questions and issues with the greatest capacity to create change. Besides money and access to data, another successful model is that of small, focused working groups that connect experts on a particular set of questions. These are not conferences; rather, they are groups focused on synthesis. Such working groups reduce the costs of collaboration across disciplines by repeatedly bringing people together in intense working environments (Hampton & Parker 2011). In the natural sciences, the working group model of collaboration and synthesis was popularized by the U.S. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and it has since been repeated in other countries and across disciplines (e.g., the Synthesis Centre for Biodiversity Sciences in Germany, the Center for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity in France, and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in the United States). Environmental NGOs are beginning to use similar models to focus and incentivize policy-relevant research, from the Luc Hoffmann Institute at the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Science for Nature and People collaborative of The Nature Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis to the emerging issues workshops and academic collaborations of the Environmental Defense Fund. These efforts are being complimented by university-led initiatives, such as the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, which combines the colocation of NGOs on campus with strong financial incentives for collaborative research. The collaborative work models driving these efforts should be strengthened and replicated, with the aim of producing and sustaining communities of academics and practitioners that gain as much from their collaboration on cross-disciplinary issues as they do from their disciplinary work. Meeting this goal will require careful consideration of the successes and failures within the science policy interface, ranging from stronger coordination with intergovernmental efforts, such as the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Pe'er et al. 2013), to greater engagement with research groups, such as the Science Policy Interface Project (SPIRAL), that focus explicitly on promoting a more effective interface between science and policy communities (Young et al. 2013). Successful collaborations will allow NGOs and academics to react more quickly to emerging policy issues and provide a stronger, evidence-based position for decision making. Connecting these seemingly disparate communities and aligning research priorities with research needs will create solutions with benefits for civil society, academics, and the science and practice of conservation.

The present study “Promotion of Primary Health Care in Pakistan: A Case Study of the Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Promoting Primary Health Care in Karachi” is aimed at determining the role of NGOs in the promotion of primary health Care sector in Pakistan with special reference to Karachi. The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the role and performance of relevant NGOs working in Karachi in the health sector. It is a quantitative research. A questionnaire based to obtain the opinions of respondents. The health care is the basic responsibility of the state. However, the NGOs play their role in promoting the health care facilities. It was noted that the primary health care system is still not working properly. NGO sector was given a wide room and finances but unfortunately they did not make the required contribution. Their lack of technical knowledge and accountability was a factor in their failure. The prevailing attitude towards health care among the masses has not changed despite the efforts of the NGO sector. Therefore the basic health conditions of the masses at the grass roots level continue to be poor. The stake holders in the health care sector should rethink about their strategies to improve health care facilities in Karachi.