IS NGO DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE MISTARGETED? AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL APPROACH

Abstract

An empirical analysis of the relationship between ‘‘objectivelyassessed need’’ and the formation of NGOs in Andhra Pradesh, India, suggeststhat the former is not a significant trigger for the latter. The formation of NGOsappears to be a response to perceptions of need that are so far removed from thelocal level that they fail to prioritize amongst levels and locations of poverty. Inthe absence of objective feedback mechanisms, the global*and thereforeindiscriminate*perspective of international funding sources may help explainthe lack of correspondence between need and NGO location, combined with theinevitably limited and blinkered knowledge of regional disparities that can beobtained through local NGOs. This preliminary ‘‘epistemological’’ approach tothe question of the sub-optimal formation of NGOs is buttressed by considerationof the factors that may bring perception, reality, and organizational responses intobetter alignment when natural disasters occur, namely the factors that makenatural disasters compelling news stories, unlike chronic underdevelopment.