ABSTRACT
Of all the objections raised against non-governmental organizations (NGO) accepting foreign assistance, perhaps the most oft repeated is that it leads to adoption of alien rather than indigenous agendas. Both hidden agendas and donor-driven NGOs lead to a distortion of national development priorities and resources in favour of the rich nations and the elite regions and groups within a country, but the nuances are different. Foreign aid is a small fraction of the Government of India’s budget and the impact of donor agendas on national sovereignty or government policy is likely to be negligible. Donors, as expected, reject charges of ‘donor-driven agendas’, and claim that through the use of local consultants, through workshops and seminars and recruiting of local programme staff, foreign donor organizations constantly try to make their work relevant to the local context. There is a positive side to donor agendas — sometimes it is useful to have donor-driven agendas, if the donors have a proactive vision.
