ABSTRACT

Both the policies of the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the physical conditions and the infrastructural facilities greatly influence the lives and work of NGO field workers. Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) is one of the oldest NGOs in Bangladesh, working in 29 thanas of six districts in northern Bangladesh. The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is an international NGO. Begun in 1920, MCC is the relief and 'development' arm of the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Churches of Canada and the United States, with over 1,000 volunteers. All volunteers in MCC Bangladesh are from the North, and do not work as field workers. PROSHIKA is one of the largest national NGOs. Since its inception in 1976, PROSHIKA's effort has been to engender a participatory process of 'development', and it claims to have succeeded in pioneering an approach that puts human development at the centre.