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FAMP                                     PĂCE?ILĂ Mihaela
                CCASP                  INVOLVEMENT OF NGOS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY



        In the current societies NGOs fulfill a range of roles:


            ?  Give citizens the opportunity to work together in order to promote social values and civic goals
               important to them. The NGOs are involved in various fields (Burlacu, 2011) such as health,
               education, rural and urban development, environment, population, social welfare, job creation,

               skills training, economic development, peace and human rights as well as the informal sector.
               (Commonwealth Foundation, 1994). In all these fields, NGOs have tried to explore new policies
               and practices for a better understanding and awareness of social, economic, environmental

               problems and other things. (Bagci, 2007)..

            ?  Represent a unique and essential space between for profit and the government sector. The
               private enterprise produces private goods and services while the government is focusing on the

               provision of public goods and services. Most government expenditures are allocated for large
               projects such as dams, hospitals, schools, etc. In general, the governments do not conduct
               income-generating  activities  and  rarely  make  investments  that  generate  employment

               opportunities. Therefore, NGOs have turned into an alternative sector (Uphoff, 1995; Korten,
               1990),  the  third  sector.  The  non-profit  and  non-governmental  sector  contributes  to  the

               satisfaction of the community needs, ensuring a balance between the state and the free market.  PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11 TH  ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE  ”Strategic Management for Local Communities”  30 th  – 31 st  October 2015   Bucharest
               At the same time, NGOs can build partnerships between the three sectors that should rely on
               the unique strengths of each sector in order to contribute to the common good (Heintz, 2006).


            ?  Enable social change by taking into account the challenges that public and private sectors do
               not focus. NGOs are able to take risks that are economically unacceptable for the private sector
               and politically unacceptable for the government (Drabek, 1987; Simmons, 1998). In fact, the
               level of organizational flexibility has a major influence on its ability to adapt and respond to

               changes (Moldoveanu and Dobrin, 2012) and to take risks.

               In modern societies around the world, many services currently considered that best practices
               have been designed, tested and improved by NGOs over many years. In addition, advocacy

               campaigns conducted by NGOs determine governments to adopt political reforms and improve
               the legislative framework for business environment (Baitenman, 1990). The NGO sector also

               allows establishing a healthy balance between the potential excesses of capitalism and the lack
               of adequate state resources (Heintz, 2006).

            ?  Have an important role in ensuring compliance with the fundamental values: human rights,

               democracy and the rule of law. In the context of the failure of conventional development models
               and of the emphasis on the role of the individual in the development process, the NGO sector


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