Ngo-Go Interactions In Watershed Development: Experiences From Gujarat (India)

While non-government organisations (NGOs) have been recognised for their role in implementing development programmes, the dynamics of their intelface with government organisations (GOs) remain problematic. Their role as implementing agencies has three important dimensions: first, to share with government the responsibility of implementing planned programmes within a prescribed time frame; second, to generate and test models of developmental intervention and to ensure their replicability under varying socio-economic conditions; third, to influence the formulation of developmental programmes within public sector institutions. Ideally, these three aspects of NGOs' intervention should be mutually reinforcing and hence pursued simultaneously. The relative emphasis placed on each may, however, differ according to the nature of the developmental programmes and the strengths of the particular NGO. The important questions to be asked are how to maximise the benefits from NGOs' efforts and what kind of government support is required to create a conducive environment for NGOs' activities? The present paper attempts to provide some answers, focusing in particular upon the issues of NGO-GO collaboration.