ABSTRACT
Over the past decade the Caribbean region, and the ‘Third World’ in general, has experienced a massive growth in the numbers of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) (Lewis, 1990, p.164; Edwards & Hulme, 1995). Many of the NGOs have been motivated by what they regard as the state’s poor performance and by recent structural adjustment programmes that have arguably left Government agencies even shorter of funds, and even more inefficient (see, for example, Edwards & Hulme, 1995; Wedderburn, 1990). Thus, from the standpoint of social movements, it has been argued that, the debt crisis has generated an unprecedented wave of social action in underdeveloped countries (see, for example, Lewis, 1990; McAfee, 1991; Wedderburn, 1990). According to Lewis (1990, p.164), ‘from trade unions to farmer and peasant associations, religious organizations and human rights groups, women’s organizations and community organizations, social movements and popular mass organizations have begun to play an increasingly important role in the ongoing process of political and economic self-empowerment in the Caribbean’.
