ABSTRACT
Development has been variously conceived of as a goal, an end product, a set of policies, and as a process. Students of development have included economists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, theologians, politicians, technicians, administrators, and political scientists. Private voluntary Organizations (PVOs) provide only a small segment of the globe's development assistance. They act as linkages between the US public as potential donors and the vast numbers of poor recipients of PVO development and relief assistance. The reach of the US PVOs is truly global in character and effect, and touches the lives of people in countless ways and innumerable places. Given the use of the modern electronic media of many PVOs for promotional purposes, few Americans remain completely unexposed to the development and relief activities of PVOs. PVOs operate not only out of the United States, but from a number of other developed countries as well. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
