Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are legally constituted corporations created by natural or legal people that operate independently from any form of government. The term originated from the United Nations, and normally refers to organizations that are not a part of a government and are not conventional for-profit businesses.
In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from membership in the organization. In the United States, NGOs are typically nonprofit organizations. The term is usually applied only to organizations that pursue wider social aims that have political aspects, but are not openly political organizations such as political parties.
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Definition of NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level. Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of service and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and encourage political participation through provision of information. Some are organized around specific issues, such as human rights, environment or health. They provide analysis and expertise, serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and implement international agreements. Their relationship with offices and agencies of the United Nations system differs depending on their goals, their venue and the mandate of a particular institution.
Non-government organizations roles and responsibilities
Non-government organizations, also known as community agencies or non-profits, provide a variety of services and activities in the community and at various stages of the justice system. They are governed by voluntary boards of directors and make extensive use of volunteers to deliver programs. Some may also engage in public education activities or speak out on social policy issues that relate to developing safe communities. Some non-government organizations provide services and programs to people directly involved in the criminal justice system, such as victims, witnesses or offenders. These services might include counselling and information for victims, victim-offender mediation programs, assistance with obtaining pardons, or supervision of offenders on release. Other agencies provide services or support to parents, extended families, children, or spouses involved in family law or divorce courts. There are also some service providers that may have interest in or occasional contact with the justice system, such as educators, mental health professionals, social workers, child welfare workers and others.
What Is the Function of an NGO?
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is generally established to engage in not for-profit activities. The function of an NGO may revolve around one or more humanitarian causes. Such causes typically have the central goal of advancing and supporting human welfare as well as other human activities. Depending on the particular focus of the NGO, it may collect donations, support the poor, promote education, encourage social responsibility, develop communities, and provide essential social services. Moreover, the function of an NGO may be grounded in other areas, such as protecting the environment and promoting animal welfare. Many NGOs focus on humanitarian issues. These include counselling and rehabilitation of war victims and other violent situations, anti-human trafficking, and education.
An NGO may be involved in the assistance and education of the poor regarding health issues, such as HIV/AIDS. It may also provide them with financial support or basic food requirements. Over the last few decades, there has been a growing sense of awareness for environmental issues. Many experts believe them to threaten the sustainability of life on earth, in the long run. Included in these issues are global warming, deforestation, toxic waste and overfishing. The main function of an NGO concerned with these issues is to find a solution in order to curtail these threats.
- Promote the interest of the poor;
- Protect the environment;
- Provide the basic social services;
- To relieve suffering and Undertake community development
Types of Non-Governmental Organizations
NGO types can be understood by their orientation and level of operation.
- 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 operation:
- 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.
Comparison between a Trust, a Society and a Section 25 Company
|
Particulars |
Public Trust |
Society |
Section 25 Company |
|
Statute /
Legislation |
Public Trust
Act like Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950 |
Societies
Registration Act of 1860 |
Companies Act
of 1956 |
|
Jurisdiction
of the Act |
Concerned
state where registered |
Concerned
state where registered |
Concerned
state where registered |
|
Authority |
Charity
Commissioner / Deputy Registrar |
Registrar of
Societies |
Registrar of
Companies |
|
Registration |
As Trust |
As Society
(and by default also as Trust in Maharashtra and Gujarat) |
As Section 25
Company |
|
Main Document |
Trust Deed |
Memorandum of
Association and Rules & Regulations |
Memorandum
and Articles of Association |
|
Stamp Duty |
Trust deed to
be executed on non-judicial stamp paper of prescribed value |
No stamp
paper required for Memorandum of Association and Rules & Regulations |
No stamp
paper required for Memorandum and Articles of Association |
|
Number of
persons needed to register |
Minimum two
trustees; no upper limit |
Minimum
seven; no upper limit |
Minimum
three; no upper limit |
|
Board of
Management |
Trustees |
Governing
body / council / managing or executive committee |
Board of
Directors / Managing Committee |
|
Mode of
succession on board of management |
Usually by
appointment |
Usually
election by members of the general body |
Usually
election by members of the general body |
Co-operative Societies
In India, cooperative societies are regarded as instruments to mobilize and aggregate community effort to eliminate layers of middlemen in any product or service supply chain hence resulting in greater benefit sharing for the grassroot farmer, worker or artisans. The Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904 enabled formation of cooperatives for supplying to farmers cheap credit and protect them from exploitation in the hands of the moneylenders. The cooperative act 1912 expanded the sphere of cooperation and provided for supervision by central organization.
Multi-State Co-operative Societies (MACTS)
The Multi-state Co-operative Societies Act, 2002 which substitutes the earlier statute of 1984, facilitates the incorporation of cooperative societies whose objects and functions spread over to several states. The act provides for formation of both primary (with both individual and institutional members) and federal cooperatives (with only institutional memberships). Any application for the registration of a multistate cooperative society, of which all the members are individuals, should be signed by at least fifty persons from each of the states concerned. In case of a society of which members are cooperative societies, it should be signed by duly authorized representative of at least five such societies registered in different states.
Society
Society is not an organization, and not legally bounded too. More explanation is as: Society or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole. Used in the sense of an association, a society is a body of individuals outlined by the bounds of functional interdependence, possibly comprising characteristics such as national or cultural identity, social solidarity, language or hierarchical organization.
Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals sharing a distinctive culture and institutions. Like other communities or groups, a society allows its members to achieve needs or wishes they could not fulfil alone. A society, however, may be ontologically independent of, and utterly irreducible to, the qualities of constituent individuals; it may act to oppress. The urbanization and rationalization inherent in some, particularly Western capitalist, societies, has been associated with feelings of isolation and social "anomie". More broadly, a society is an economic, social or industrial infrastructure, made up of a varied collection of individuals. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups. A society may be a particular ethnic group, such as the Saxons; a nation state, such as Bhutan; a broader cultural group, such as a Western society. The word society may also refer to an organized voluntary association of people for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. A "society" may even, though more by means of metaphor refer to a social organism such as an ant colony.
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