Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs): Issues of Terminology and Definitions

There is a phenomenal growth over the last two decades in the numbers and scope of NonGovernmental Organisations (NGOs) across the world. Although there is great recognition on the role of NGOs in society, there is no agreement on what the term NGO entails and how NGOs can be defined and understood. A number of issues are associated with this disagreement such as terminological issues and different approaches to definitions. The terminological issues refer to the wide range of terms used to identify this set of organisations such as an non-profit, not for profit, civil society, third sector organisations and so on. The various definitional approaches include legal, functional, economical and structural definitions. This conceptual paper argues that an analysis of the debates on sectoral differences, terminological issues and definitional aspects surrounding the concept of NGO can provide an understanding of the concept. This paper concludes that NGOs are institutional entities, different from government and commercial organisations, based on six essential attributes: formal nature, non-governmental, non-profit, self-governing, voluntarism and accountability

Rajagiri Journal of Social Development

Rajagiri Journal of Social Development

7

2583-7087

N/A

1

10