NGOs Used as 'Front for Illicit Activity'

A Justice Ministry official on Monday said controversial spot checks on nongovernmental organizations were needed because many operated as "fronts" for illicit activity.

Anna Kotova, deputy head of the ministry's NGO affairs department, said "a huge number of NGOs" operated outside the law, although she did not give any concrete statistics.

She gave the example of a veterans' association in Russia's western exclave of Kaliningrad that engaged in commercial activity and had a turnover of billions of rubles but, she said, did not pay taxes.

Kotova added that the organization's activities had been uncovered during a spot check carried out by the ministry in conjunction with the tax authorities.

Since March, NGOs across Russia have been subject to random inspections or spot checks that observers have linked to a law introduced in November obliging NGOs that engage in "political activity" and receive foreign funding to register as "foreign agents."

Last week, international advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement saying Russian authorities were using the law to "curtail a broad range of work by independent organizations."

The New York-based group said that "at least 62 groups have received warnings or orders to register as foreign agents" or had faced legal action since the inspection campaign started in March.

Of the seven groups already taken to court, five have been ordered to pay fines and register and another 15 organizations may face administrative charges if they fail to register, HRW said in the statement.

Although the Russian government maintains that the law is designed to prevent foreign interference in the nation's political life, NGOs involved in activities that do not seem expressly political, such as public health and wildlife conservation, have already been held to account under it.

On June 26, the Justice Ministry suspended the activity of independent election monitor Golos, prohibiting it from holding public events and advising it that its bank accounts would be frozen.

However, Golos deputy executive director Grigory Melkonyants said these measures would not interrupt the organization's activities. He said Golos would formally dissolve, and a new election monitoring association would be created.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said last month that, if needed, the "foreign agent" law could be adjusted.

Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Kremlin human rights council, proposed in April that the law be scrapped and that NGO activity be regulated under the Civil Code.

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India cracks down on foreign funding of NGOs

Activists accuse government of stifling their right to dissent

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• Rama Lakshmi for the Washington Post
• Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 11 June 2013 14.01 BST

Food not thought … the Indian government wants NGOs to use foreign funding for development work, not criticising national policy. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

Amid an intensifying crackdown on non-governmental groups that receive foreign funding, Indian activists are accusing the government of stifling their right to dissent in the world's largest democracy.

India has tightened the rules on non-governmental organisations over the past two years, following protests that delayed several important industrial projects. About a dozen NGOs that the government said engaged in activities that harm the public interest have seen their permission to receive foreign donations revoked, as have nearly 4,000 small NGOs for what officials said was inadequate compliance with reporting requirements.

The government stepped up its campaign recently, suspending the permission that Indian Social Action Forum (Insaf), a network of more than 700 NGOs across India, had to receive foreign funds. Groups in the network campaign for indigenous peoples' rights over their mineral-rich land and against nuclear energy, human rights violations and religious fundamentalism; nearly 90% of the network's funding comes from overseas.

"The government's action is aimed at curbing our democratic right to dissent and disagree," said Anil Chaudhary, who heads an NGO that trains activists and is part of the Insaf network. "We dared to challenge the government's new foreign donation rules in the court. We opposed nuclear energy, we campaigned against genetically modified food. We have spoiled the sleep of our prime minister."

In its letter to Insaf, the home ministry said the group's bank accounts were frozen and foreign funding approval suspended because it was likely to "prejudicially affect the public interest".

A government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the government is not against criticism. But when an NGO used foreign donations to criticise Indian policies, "things get complicated, and you never know what the plot is", the official said, adding that NGOs should use foreign donations to do development work instead.

The US is the top donor nation to Indian NGOs, followed by Britain and Germany, according to figures compiled by the Indian government, with Indian NGOs receiving funds from both the US government and private US institutions. In the year ending in March 2011, the most recent period for which data is available, about 22,000 NGOs received a total of more than $2bn from abroad, of which $650m came from the US.

Asked about the Indian government's moves against foreign-funded NGOs, a US state department spokesman said the department was not aware of any US government involvement in the cases. The spokesman said such civil society groups around the world "are among the essential building blocks of any healthy democracy".

The situation in India is not unlike the problems that similar groups face in Russia, where a law passed last year requires foreign-funded NGOs that engage in loosely defined political activities to register as "foreign agents".

Trouble for many non-profit activist groups in India began more than a year ago when prime minister Manmohan Singh blamed groups from the US for fomenting anti-nuclear protests that have stalled the commissioning of India's biggest reactor, a Russian-backed project in Koodankulam in power-starved Tamil Nadu state.

US officials, including Peter Burleigh, the American ambassador at the time, quickly moved to assure Indian officials that the US government supports India's civil nuclear power programme. And Victoria Nuland, then the state department spokeswoman, said the US does not provide support for non-profit groups to protest nuclear power plants. "Our NGO support goes for development, and it goes for democracy programmes," Nuland said.

Although Singh was widely criticised for his fears, the government froze the accounts of several NGOs in southern India within weeks.

"All our work has come to a stop," said Henri Tiphagne, head of a human rights group called People's Watch. "I had visited [the] Koodankulam protest site once. Is that a banned territory?"

But the government's action appears to have had its desired effect. "NGOs are too scared to visit Koodankulam or associate with us now," said anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar.

Meenakshi Ganguly, south Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said many NGOs were afraid to speak up about the suspension of their foreign funding approval, which is "being used to intimidate organisations and activists".

Analysts say the government's way of dealing with dissent is a throwback to an earlier era. But Indian authorities have been particularly squeamish about criticism of late. As citizens have protested corruption and sexual assaults on women and demanded greater accountability from public officials, authorities have often reacted clumsily – beating up peaceful protesters and cracking down on satirical cartoons, Facebook posts and Twitter accounts.

Officials say NGOs are free to use Indian money for their protests. But activists say Indian money is hard to find, with many Indians preferring to donate to charities.

A recent report by Bain & Co said that about two-thirds of Indian donors surveyed said that NGOs have room to improve the impact they are making in the lives of beneficiaries. It said that a quarter of donors are holding back on increased donations until they perceive evidence that their donations are having an effect.

"They give blankets to the homeless, sponsor poor children or support cow shelters," said Wilfred Dcosta, co-ordinator of Insaf. "They do not want to support causes where you question the state, demand environmental justice or fight for the land rights of tribal people pitted against mighty mining companies."

Insaf, whose acronym means "justice" in Urdu, has seen its portion of foreign funding increase significantly during the past 15 years. Now it receives funds from many international groups, including the American Jewish World Service and Global Greengrants Fund in the US, and groups in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

The top American donors to Indian NGOs include Colorado-based Compassion International, Washington DC-based Population Services International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

"It is not a question about money, it is a fight for our right to dissent," said Chaudhary. "I don't need dollars to block a road."

This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from the Washington Post

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Two 'man-eater' leopards shot in Himachal, NGO raises doubts

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government Monday said two leopards were shot dead in Mandi district this month as they were responsible for killing three people but a wildlife NGO expressed doubts about the dead male cats being actually man-eaters. 

"Three people, including a woman, were killed and two others got injuries in five leopard attacks on humans in Seraj area, forcing the wildlife authorities to declare both leopards as man-eaters July 25," Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri told the assembly in a written reply. 

To check the attack of leopards on villagers, 15 cameras and five cage traps were laid at various places in the area. Three teams of wildlife officials monitored the situation, he said. 

To hunt the man-eater leopards, the government hired the services of Shafath Ali Khan of Hyderabad and Ashish Dasgupta, a member of the Himachal Wildlife Advisory Board. 

Both the leopards were shot dead by the former - first Aug 11 and the second Aug 21. 

But NGO Nature Watch has expressed doubts about the killing of the man-eaters. 

In a statement to the media, the Shimla-based group said the state wildlife wing has handled the issue casually and unprofessionally to soothe public outcry and killed wrong leopards while hunting for the man-eater. 

"We condemn the mishandling of the entire operation to hunt the man-eater. Even the government's role in hiring the services of hunter Shafath Ali Khan, a man with dubious credentials, and the resultant killing of unidentified leopards, including a cub, just to soothe public outcry is questionable," said its national convener Rajeshwar Negi. 

He said the granting of permit by the forest authorities to kill the leopard, protected under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, without first attempting and exhausting all attempts to capture, tranquilize and translocate it is a clear violation of Section 11 (A) of the act. 

"Such permit can only be issued after being satisfied that such animal is dangerous to human life, which could not have been the case with regard to the leopards killed including a cub," he said. 

According to the last census conducted by the wildlife wing in 2004, there were 761 leopards in the state. 

The leopard menace is more acute in Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Mandi and Kangra districts and parts of Kullu, Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan districts. 

IANS 

First Published: Monday, August 26, 2013, 22:01

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Ghoos phoos

The most populist of populist schemes.

The monsoon is coming to its tail end all over the country. But it's still raining. Raining populist schemes, that is. It is the season most favoured by Indian politicians when they get into pre-election mode: it is the season of competitive populism.

Hard on the heels of the food security Bill, which aims to provide hugely subsidised foodgrains to two-thirds of the country's population, has come the land acquisition Bill, which protects the interests of farmers, particularly those who have small holdings, but which will substantially increase the cost of setting up industries.

In a rare show of solidarity, political parties across the board have expressed general approval of both pieces of legislation. If power is said to corrupt, and absolute power is said to corrupt absolutely, it seems that populism seduces, and absolute populism seduces absolutely.

Spoilsports such as economists and market analysts have warned that India can ill afford such costly schemes, particularly at a time when the country's economy is in terrible shape. But with their eyes firmly set on the 2014 polls, no one in the political arena is in any frame of mind to listen to such killjoys and party-poopers. However, in their scramble to out-populist each other, our netas have so far failed to identify what arguably might be the most populist scheme of all: a bribe security Bill.

Perhaps even greater than the problem of hunger, or of the forcible seizure of land from farmers, is the problem of rampant bribery and corruption. Indeed, it could be said that all of India`s many problems — including the problems of hunger and land seizure — are due to the twin-headed serpent of bribery and corruption.

As the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi once admitted, out of every rupee spent on welfare schemes to help the aam admi, barely 17 paise reached the intended recipients, the rest got eaten up by corrupt officials and middlemen. Subsequent guesstimates made by commentators suggest that Rajiv Gandhi was an optimist, and that the money that actually reaches the targeted beneficiaries is in fact much lower, and could be as low as between 5 paise and 7 paise a rupee.

Using such figures, it could be argued that welfare schemes such as the food security Bill actually help to promote bribery by providing more scope and resources for such corrupt practices. Indeed, the more laws there are — for everything from welfare, to taxation, to traffic control — the greater the opportunity for corruption.

A website called 'I Paid A Bribe' run by a Bangalore-based NGO, shows that the common citizens of Delhi paid bribes totalling 4.3 crore in three years, with individual handouts ranging from 10 to 1 lakh. And these are just the people who posted their comments on the site. There are many more, in Delhi and all over the country, who have stoically accepted bribery as a daily necessity of life, from paying `hafta` to a policeman, to paying 'capitation fees' for admission to a college, to greasing palms in order to get a government contract.

All political parties should get together to pass a bribe security Bill by which they will together pledge to subsidise bribery by lowering the cost of bribes across the board. This 'subsidy' could be inversely linked to inflation: if inflation is 9%, bribes — for everyone from the cop on the street to the mantriji — should be reduced by that amount.

Such a ghoos would certainly lay the golden eggs of electoral victory.

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Social workers' caseload concerns often fall on deaf ears, survey shows

A study of 650 social workers suggests the majority will speak out when they are worried about their caseloads, but many feel their managers are unable or unwilling do anything about it.

Credit: Daniel Sicolo/Rex Features

Kirsty McGregor 

Tuesday 03 September 2013 14:16

Around two-thirds of social workers who have raised concerns about unmanageable caseloads said their managers failed to properly address the issue.

More than half (56%) of the 650 social workers responding to Liquid Personnel’s survey felt their caseload was unmanageable. Almost nine out of 10 of those (88%) had raised these concerns with their managers.

However, 64% of those respondents said their concerns had been dealt with “quite poorly” or “very poorly”.  Often the manager recognised their concerns, but was unable to take decisive action due to constraints from senior management, lack of resources or strict targets. 

“We are told they know we are overworked but extra staff can't be funded,” said one respondent.

Others said: “You're informed that everyone is in the same position or that others have more cases than you and are not complaining.”

“I was told I needed to be more organised; it felt like a personal failing and has made me reluctant to raise this again.”

Liquid Personnel’s managing director, Jonathan Coxon, said it was at least encouraging that so many social workers had spoken out about their caseload concerns.

“It’s clear that unmanageable caseloads are endemic in social work and have been for some time. Social workers need to speak out if they cannot cope with their workload and make sure their concerns are clearly documented.

“There is a stigma attached to admitting ‘I can’t cope with this level of work’, but it’s important for your own wellbeing and that of service users.”

Bridget Robb, chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), said: “There is a clear need for managers to be more supportive, but they too can face top-down pressures from policies imposed on them by central and local government.

“Part of the solution lies in employers having clear caseload management policies in place, and encouraging managers and social workers to work together on creative ways of addressing workload challenges.

“Managers and social workers must ask whether they are practising safely and where employers fail to act on concerns raised, frontline professionals should contact their representative organisations, such as BASW, for further advice and support.”

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Cope with Cancer

we need volunteers to get data on various resources all over India

               

                                                    With the current situation causing undue suffering to poor women, children and tribals, some social welfare organisations are planning to file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the High Court so that services related to women and child welfare are exempted from the strike and the court ensures that development works aren't hampered.

N Prakasa Rao, founder, Bala Vikas Foundation, who runs National Child Labour School, said, "We are planning to file a PIL in the high court because children's right to education has been violated for almost a month. There's not even 10% attendance in schools and poor children are deprived of mid-day meals too in Zilla Parishad and municipal schools."

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Protesters force social workers to join stir, work comes to standstill

VISAKHAPATNAM: For them it hardly makes a difference if they are living in a united or bifurcated Andhra Pradesh. Some of them are either too young or ignorant to understand the socio-economic and political implications of a bifurcated state, while others are from sidelined or marginalised communities struggling for day-to-day existence.

But these poor tribal, rural and street children, women, aged and ailing people all have been dragged into the current bifurcation imbroglio willy-nilly and are being forced to bear the brunt of Samaikyandhra agitation because social works by government and non-governmental organisations have come to a standstill.

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Social services receptionist handed personal file of child rape victim to her alleged abusers as part of campaign to de-rail trial of 'paedophile ring'

A social services worker accessed the records of a child raped in a drugs den as part of a wider conspiracy to collapse the trial of an alleged paedophile ring.

Mahdiya Khan, 21, a secretary for Lancashire County Council, printed off 'extremely sensitive' data on the girl and handed it to her boyfriend, who was a defendant in the case. 

A gang had been accused of systematically abusing the 14-year-old, and family and friends of the ringleader then offered her cash and showered her with gifts to persuade her to change her statement and say the sex was consensual.

The girl and her loved-ones were also threatened in a case that police said today was 'horrendous'.

The trial of the six men came to court last year but it collapsed after one day when the girl, now 16, refused to give evidence.

A retrial was then called in March, but this also ended abruptly when the alleged victim said that the sex had been consensual.

Only one one man, Mohammed Imran Amjad, 26, was convicted as he had admitted three counts of child abduction and one of sexual activity with a child.

Amjad bore the 'greatest responsibility for the corruption and abuse of the victim in this case'.

Prosecutor Alaric Bassano told Burnley Crown Court last year: 'It was him who took her on many occasions to the house and him who assisted, encouraged and incited others to rape and sexually assault this girl.

 

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'On one occasion, he raped the girl himself. Over a period of time he subdued her will and coerced her into submission.

'The girl was groomed over a period of time and on many occasions she was taken to a house in Brierfield (near Burnley).

'That house was used as a den at which young men attended and brought or invited girls and young women in order to drink alcohol, take drugs and engage in sex'.

After he admitted the sex crimes, Amjad was jailed for four years and three months. 

But his case has since sparked four more convictions of people, including his partner, cousin and brother, who had tried to impede justice.

Collapse: Three of the defendants are seen leaving Burnley Crown Court last year after the first trial was ended abruptly when the alleged victim refused to give evidence - five out of six were acquitted

As well as the crimes of Mahdiya Khan, Amjad's cousin Waqas Khalid, 19, followed the child sex victim, and told her that she and her mother would be raped and their house 'blown up', according to The Times.

It came from an investigation by the paper's Chief Investigative Reporter Andrew Norfolk.

Amjad's friend Qasim Hussain, 20, dictated a note for the girl which said: 'I didn't have sex with any of the boys who's in court next month. I didn't get raped' as part of a campaign to get her to change her evidence.

Amjad's brother Furqan Amjad, 23,  bombarded the girl with hundreds phone calls and text messages in a fortnight, and even paid for her mobile phone credit as part of a 'charm offensive' before the case went to court.

In one message he urged her 'have some courage' and she then refused to give evidence.

Controversial: A second trial at Manchester Crown Court later collapsed when the girl changed her statement, but Mohammed Imran AmJad had pleaded guilty

All have now been convicted of their part in the conspiracy, the Crown Prosecution Service told MailOnline.

Miss Khan was jailed for eight months last year after pleading guilty to five counts of unauthorised access to computer material. She was also sacked by Lancashire County Council.

Waqas Khalid admitted one count of witness intimidation and was fined £300, ordered to pay costs of £250, and £200 compensation to the victim.

Furqan Amjad got 15 months in prison for perverting the course of justice and Qasim Hussain was found guilty of perverting the course of Justice and has been told he should expect a 'lengthy' jail term when he is sentenced this week. 

Lancashire Detective Chief Inspector Sion Hall, from Lancashire Constabulary, told MailOnline: 'This was a horrendous case where a vulnerable girl was threatened and manipulated after being put through significant sexual abuse.

'It is difficult to bring cases to court especially when individuals work to undermine the process. The witness was got at by a group who tried everything to persuade her not to give evidence 

'Sadly attempts to collapse a trial in this way are not unique'.

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School of Social Work Launches Human Services Clearinghouse in China

The USC School of Social Work and the Chinese Cochrane Center have launched the first online clearinghouse for human services professionals and policy makers in China, seeking easy access to culturally relevant social work practices.

Release Date: 02/15/2010

By Cortney Fielding
Originally published by the USC School of Social Work, For original article, click here.

The Chinese Clearinghouse for Evidence-Based Practice and Policy (CCE) will introduce the latest evidence-based interventions in social work from around the world into a rapidly globalizing society beginning to look outward for solutions to modern mental-health problems.

"Our mission is to provide human services professionals, community organizations and policy makers the latest empirical evidence on social work practices that are most likely to succeed within Chinese society, " said Haluk Soydan, director of the school's Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services, who will also serve as the CCE's scientific director. "While there have been some successful efforts in China, human services and social science in dealing with vulnerable populations and underserved areas is still strongly lacking. We believe this easily accessible website is a step toward widespread use of these mental-health interventions in the world's largest nation."

Gaining popularity within the United States, clearinghouses are web-based portals where quality-controlled scientific evidence of what works—or is possibly harmful— in professional practice and policy interventions is made available to professionals, decision makers and the general public in accessible and transparent language and format.

Scientific committees assess the best available scientific evidence of the latest research on programs and other innovations in health care, social services and other human services, providing in-depth coverage of a number of high-priority policy topics in social work practice and other human services.

Teaming up with the Cochrane Center, the School of Social Work sought to bring the clearinghouse model to China—a country that has traditionally resisted the idea that its citizens suffered from mental-health disorders similar to those in the West.

But that resistance is fading as China is forced to find modern solutions to its increasingly modern problems—especially where children are concerned.

But once available, it can reach more quickly and accurately train social workers, psychologists, doctors and counselors to work with this vulnerable population more than any other method, said Marilyn Flynn, dean of the School of Social Work.

According to the CCE, unbalanced economic development, a restrictive family planning policy, urbanization, the financial crisis and the impact of globalization have all conspired to increasingly expose Chinese children to complex health, education and safety risks, as well as psychological, cultural, economic and social deprivation.

And while the Chinese government recognizes the situation and has implemented some helpful programs to combat the problem, there is still a longstanding deficit that must be overcome.

When the CCE launched this September, its website included nine carefully selected evidence-based interventions concerning children with behavior issues. The interventions were largely taken from the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare, supported by the California Department of Social Services.

In addition to the typical scientific review, Soydan and the CCE enlisted a culturally competent scientific committee to examine all interventions for feasibility, based on their own experiences and expertise in psychosocial interventions adapted for Chinese-American populations and their knowledge of Chinese culture.

"Just because it works in the United States, doesn't mean it's going to work in China," Soydan said.

One behavior-modification home-based program instructed parents to praise their children for appropriate behavior and refrain from giving attention to misbehavior. The committee noted that Chinese parents may hold cultural beliefs about motivation that contraindicate praise and favor criticism. Many believe children will stop trying hard if you praise them and are often uncomfortable with the strategy of ignoring misbehavior.

Duration of therapy was another common concern Soydan's team considered. One successful intervention used in the United States lasted 34 weeks for the children and 16 for the parents. Reviewers worried Chinese parents would feel reluctant to have their children spend such a big chunk of time participating in a program that is not directly related to improving their academic performance, given that academic performance is a focal concern for parents of school-age children.

The panel ultimately gave the program approval.

The CCE said it will grow to include adult and senior citizen mental-health interventions within the next year. In addition to posting research, the clearinghouse plans to build collaborative alliances with community organizations and other networks in social work practice and other human services in China; assist international networks in the production and dissemination of Chinese-generated scientific evidence in social work research for use in other parts of the world; and train faculty, students and agency staff in evidence-based practice and decision-making in the field of child welfare and social work practice.

"We are committed to working closely with professionals, decision-makers and community organization representatives in China, as well as with leading international organizations and networks in the pursuit of our mission," Soydan said.

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ngo

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Types of Non-Governmental Organizations

NGO types can be understood by their orientation and level of cooperation.

NGO type by level of orientation:

• Charitable Orientation often involves a top-down paternalistic effort with little participation by the "beneficiaries". It includes NGOs with activities directed toward meeting the needs of the poor.
• Service Orientation includes NGOs with activities such as the provision of health, family planning or education services in which the programme is designed by the NGO and people are expected to participate in its implementation and in receiving the service.
• Participatory Orientation is characterized by self-help projects where local people are involved particularly in the implementation of a project by contributing cash, tools, land, materials, labour etc. In the classical community development project, participation begins with the need definition and continues into the planning and implementation stages.
• Empowering Orientation aims to help poor people develop a clearer understanding of the social, political and economic factors affecting their lives, and to strengthen their awareness of their own potential power to control their lives. There is maximum involvement of the beneficiaries with NGOs acting as facilitators.

NGO type by level of cooperation:

• Community-based Organizations (CBOs) arise out of people's own initiatives. They can be responsible for raising the consciousness of the urban poor, helping them to understand their rights in accessing needed services, and providing such services.
• Citywide Organizations include organizations such as chambers of commerce and industry, coalitions of business, ethnic or educational groups, and associations of community organizations.
• National NGOs include national organizations such as the Red Cross, YMCAs/YWCAs, professional associations, etc. Some have state and city branches and assist local NGOs.
• International NGOs range from secular agencies such as Redda Barna and Save the Children organizations, OXFAM, CARE, Ford Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation to religiously motivated groups. They can be responsible for funding local NGOs, institutions and projects and implementing projects.

Apart from "NGO", there are many alternative or overlapping terms in use, including: third sector organization (TSO), non-profit organization (NPO), voluntary organization (VO), civil society organization (CSO), grassroots organization (GO), social movement organization (SMO), private voluntary organization (PVO), self-help organization (SHO) and non-state actors (NSAs).

Non-governmental organizations are a heterogeneous group. As a result, a long list of additional acronyms has developed, including:

• BINGO: 'Business-friendly International NGO' or 'Big International NGO'
• TANGO: 'Technical Assistance NGO'
• TSO: 'Third Sector Organization'
• GONGO: 'Government-Operated NGOs' (set up by governments to look like NGOs in order to qualify for outside aid or promote the interests of government)
• DONGO: 'Donor Organized NGO'
• INGO: 'International NGO'
• QUANGO: 'Quasi-Autonomous NGO,' such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). (The ISO is actually not purely an NGO, since its membership is by nation, and each nation is represented by what the ISO Council determines to be the 'most broadly representative' standardization body of a nation. That body might itself be a nongovernmental organization; for example, the United States is represented in ISO by the American National Standards Institute, which is independent of the federal government. However, other countries can be represented by national governmental agencies; this is the trend in Europe.)
• National NGO: A non-governmental organization that exists only in one country. This term is rare due to the globalization of non-governmental organizations, which causes an NGO to exist in more than one country.
• CSO: 'Civil Society Organization'
• ENGO: 'Environmental NGO,' such as Greenpeace and WWF
• NNGO: 'Northern NGO'
• PANGO: 'Party NGO,' set up by parties and disguised as NGOs to serve their political matters.
• SNGO: 'Southern NGO'
• SCO: 'Social Change Organization'
• TNGO: 'Transnational NGO.' The term emerged during the 1970s due to the increase of environmental and economic issues in the global community. TNGO includes non-governmental organizations that are not confined to only one country, but exist in two or more countries.
• GSO: Grassroots Support Organization
• MANGO: 'Market Advocacy NGO'
• NGDO: 'Non-governmental Development Organization'

USAID refers to NGOs as private voluntary organizations. However, many scholars have argued that this definition is highly problematic as many NGOs are in fact state and corporate funded and managed projects with professional staff

NGOs exist for a variety of reasons, usually to further the political or social goals of their members or founders. Examples include improving the state of the natural environment, encouraging the observance of human rights, improving the welfare of the disadvantaged, or representing a corporate agenda. However, there are a huge number of such organizations and their goals cover a broad range of political and philosophical positions. This can also easily be applied to private schools and athletic organizations.

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Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

NGOs are difficult to define and classify, and the term 'NGO' is not used consistently. As a result, there are many different classifications in use. The most common NGOs use a framework that includes orientation and level of operation. An NGO's orientation refers to the type of activities it takes on. These activities might include human rights, environmental, or development work. An NGO's level of operation indicates the scale at which an organization works, such as local, regional, international or national.

One of the earliest mentions of the term "NGO" was in 1945, when the United Nations (UN) was created. The UN, which is an inter-governmental organization, made it possible for certain approved specialized international non-state agencies - or non-governmental organizations - to be awarded observer status at its assemblies and some of its meetings. Later the term became used more widely. Today, according to the UN, any kind of private organization that is independent from government control can be termed an "NGO", provided it is not-profit, non-criminal and not simply an opposition political party.

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