"Organizations like Oxfam,
Greenpeace, Amnesty International and thousands of others serve the public
on a
national and international
scale. Known variously as "private voluntary organizations," "civil society
organizations,"
and "citizen associations,"
they are increasingly called “NGOs,” an acronym that stands for "non-governmental
organizations." The
United Nations system uses this term to distinguish representatives of
these agencies from
those of governments. While
many NGOs dislike the term, it has come into wide use, because the UN system
is the
main focus of international
rule-making and policy formulation in the fields where most NGOs operate.
Today, NGOs address every
conceivable issue and they operate in virtually every part of the globe.
Though
international NGO activity
has grown steadily, most NGOs operate within a single country and frequently
they
function within a purely
local setting. Some, such as legal assistance organizations, mainly provide
services. Some
such as chambers of commerce,
concern themselves with narrowly-defined interests. And some, such as
neighborhood associations,
promote civic beautification or community improvement. But many important
NGOs,
such as those working for
human rights and social justice, campaign for broad ideals. At the international
level,
thousands of organizations
are active. According to one estimate, some 25,000 now qualify as international
NGOs
(with programs and affiliates
in a number of countries) up from less than 400 a century ago. Amnesty
International, for example,
has more than a million members and it has affiliates or networks in over
90 countries
and territories. Its London-based
International Secretariat has a staff of over 300 which carries out research,
coordinates worldwide lobbying
and maintains an impressive presence at many international conferences
and
institutions.
Political scientists often
refer to NGOs as “pressure groups” or “lobby groups,” but this concept
does not do
justice to these organizations
and their broad public influence. In the 1980s, the term “civil society”
came into
fashion, but it proved too
broad and amorphous. For this reason, a cross-disciplinary specialty emerged
in the
1990s focusing on NGOs and
their role in society. Scholars working in this area have noted that NGOs
can
command great legitimacy,
sometimes more than national authorities. An opinion poll in Germany, for
example,
found that considerably
more respondents said they trusted the NGO Greenpeace than those that expressed
trust in the German Federal
government. NGOs create “public goods,” needed by citizens, that are not
ordinary
created in the for-profit
marketplace. Economists sometimes refer to NGOs and the broader, non-profit
part of the
economy as the “Third Sector,”
to distinguish it from government and private business. In some large countries,
this sector accounts for
millions of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity.
NGOs are often seen as synonymous
with non-profits, but a distinction between the two is useful. Non-profits
include a very wide range
of organizations, including museums, universities, and hospitals, that
focus on services
and rarely (if ever) engage
in advocacy. By contrast, NGOs always have an important advocacy mission."
Health Related NGOs Include:
AMREF African Medical and Research Foundation
AMI Aide Médicale Internationale
CMMB Catholic Medical Mission Board
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières US Site
IHE International Health Exchange