Author

Peter Charles

Date of Award

9-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

Supervisor

D.G. Willms

Language

English

Abstract

This thesis addresses the question, "What makes for an effective Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)?" It does this through a systematic, meta-analysis of peer-reviewed NGO related literatures. This is an evidence-driven approach, whereby the literature acted both as a databank and as informant. The thesis also contains a different methodology for the review of the literature and a portion of the thesis has been devoted to its description. To systematically examine the literature, I developed a methodology that applied an inductive approach to a process involving both data triangulation and an iterative reduction of the data into a series of questions on NGO effectiveness. After applying the methodology to the peer-reviewed literature, seventeen categories and 343 questions emerged which were reduced into a more manageable number of ten categories and 57 questions. These questions were then applied to the data to produce a profile of an effective NGO termed 'Adaptive-Visionary'. This is a my concept of an NGO capable of great flexibility in adapting to circumstance yet capable of maintaining a clear focus on particular development challenges.

McMaster University Library


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