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Struggling for Survival and Autonomy: Impact of NGO-ization on women's organizations in Bangladesh

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Abstract

Sohela Nazneen and Maheen Sultan analyze the impact of the NGO-ization process on the structure, autonomy and accountability relations of different types of women's organizations in Bangladesh. They argue that the impact of NGO-ization varies depending on the resources, level of operation and the organizational motives behind adopting the NGO model. The impacts on smaller women's organizations operating at the local level are an expansion of structure, loss of autonomy and a prioritization of accountability towards donors. However, some national-level women's organizations have been able to manage the process through strategically mobilizing resources and prioritizing own agendas, thus retaining their feminist character. At a wider level, the NGO-ization process has led to a blurring of the boundaries between the gender and development agenda and feminist discourses. This blurring of boundaries created opportunities for raising women's rights issues at different levels, but led perhaps to a generational shift in how younger women engage with gender equity issues.

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Notes

  1. Women can mobilize around many different issues that influence the condition and interests of women. However, not all types of activism are feminist in character, as the agenda may not have an explicitly feminist character, where the main goal is to challenge gender power relations (Molyneux, 2001); and not all movements use feminist principles of organizing (Batliwala, 2008).

  2. See section on Managing NGO-ization.

  3. Per capita GDP is about $440 (BBS, 2005).

  4. Personal communication, Deputy Director of Planning, Department of Women's Affairs. The number of NGOs registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau to receive foreign funding is at present 2000 (DFID, 2005).

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Authors
  1. Sohela Nazneen
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  2. Maheen Sultan
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Additional information

Shows how the NGO-ization process has changed relations of accountability in Bangledesh women's organizations

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Nazneen, S., Sultan, M. Struggling for Survival and Autonomy: Impact of NGO-ization on women's organizations in Bangladesh. Development 52, 193–199 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2009.18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2009.18

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