ABSTRACT
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) 1 in Bangladesh embrace many fields but are largely geared to alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable development. Presently, they operate in more than 50 per cent of all villages in the country, involving over 3.5 million families as beneficiaries of their work (ADAB 1994). To the credit of NGOs in Bangladesh are a range of effective development approaches, models and innovations, especially in the fields of micro-finance and non-formal primary education, which have been recognised widely and in some cases adopted by official as well as private development agencies at home and abroad. Over the last two decades, the NGO sector in Bangladesh, as in many other places in the world, has also performed a major role in facilitating the process of institution-building among the poor at the grassroots (Clark 1991). This is crucial if the 80 per cent plus of the population currently living below the poverty line are to be empowered to participate meaningfully in national development and in the process of democratisation. There are, of course, many critics of NGOs in Bangladesh. They have expressed serious doubts about NGO performance, questioned their legitimacy and accountability, and argued strongly against their mode of operation (Muhammad 1988; Umar 1994). This chapter attempts to identify and assess some of these criticisms, especially those concerning legitimacy and accountability.
