Conceptualizing Non-Governmentals: Still Searching for Conceptual Clarity (Report‪)‬

Introduction In 1945, the United Nations (UN) coined the term "Non-Governmental " (NGO) and since then, there has been a continuous proliferation of NGOs particularly due to government and market failure in both Northern and Southern countries (Edwards & Hulme 1996; Fisher 1997; Hossain & Malkia 1996; Markowitz 2001; Martens 2002, 271). This proliferation is in part a response to the growing awareness of the limitations of the state as an agent of development (Hyden 1997; Lindenberg & Dobel 1999). Nonetheless, historically, it is argued that NGOs emerged from the civil society in Northern countries with a liberal tradition, due to the gradual retreat of the government in public service delivery which left a vacuum for them to fill. Thus, since World War II, NGOs have emerged to undertake projects that were formerly undertaken by government agencies in Northern and Southern countries (Lewis 2005). As a result, through NGOs, governments in especially Northern industrialized countries have been able to channel huge sums of money with the aim of funding projects in and out of the country. Similarly, through NGOs, governments in Northern industrialised countries have been deeply involved with developmental projects in Southern countries, which were initially undertaken by the government in those countries through their own governmental or international intergovernmental s such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank (Hossain & Myllyla 1998). In this regard, NGOs serve in different ways to fulfill numerous functions and sometimes they are used as intermediaries to channel funds in the execution of projects to local individuals and target groups of people (Rice 1983; Masoni 1985; Korten 1990; Carroll 1992).