Page 67 - Proceeding 2015

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

becomes an agent of democracy and development. (Bayat, 1996; Heintz, 2006). In recent
decades, NGOs have taken a more active role in setting the agenda and in elaborating and
implementing public policies (Porter and Brown, 2000). Civil society participation in the decision
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11 TH ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
making process strengthens the democratic system because the key component of a democracy
is public participation.

? Use existing resources more efficiently than public institutions and mobilize additional resources.

The rapid growth in number of NGOs has not been accompanied by an increase in the quality
of work performed, leading to many problems with regard to responsibility. The increase in NGO

number and in their fields of application needs for sustainable financing mechanisms. The
answer to the apparently limited resources could be the identification of new modalities for
mobilizing resources or the development of new modalities for increasing them (Commonwealth

Foundation, 1994).

According to Edwards şi Hulme (1995), NGOs have three roles in society:
30 th – 31 st October 2015 ”Strategic Management for Local Communities” Bucharest ? Preferred channel for delivering services

? Vehicles for democratization and essential components of civil society

? Effective vehicles for achieving economic and political objectives

Uphoff (1995) argues that there are two general categories of NGOs according to their role in society:

? NGOs involved in supporting development initiatives. They are the expression of the free will of
social groups and try to build a collective society where every individual becomes a citizen.

? NGOs having some degree of institutionalization. They are the expression of social movements
as well as of civil society's capacity to organize itself in different historical epochs.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The involvement of NGOs in contemporary societies were investigated in this paper by studying different

researches in the field. This paper attempted a qualitative research in order to identify the definitions and
classifications of non-governmental organizations, to analyze the establishment and development of the

NGO sector and to describe the current spectrum of NGO activities and role.

The emergence of NGOs is not an accident, but a response to voluntary action of citizens in order to solve
community problems. They should not be regarded only as organizations providing services or as vehicles

of development and democratization. Their dynamics should be understood as a consequence of the

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