ABSTRACT
This chapter describes aid in action at the micro level, as seen in the one-on-one relationship between donors and non-governmental organizations (NGO) in the process of resource transfers, because the quality of development outcomes depends to a great extent on the quality of this relationship. It is important to recognize that if NGOs have needs, donors to have their own dilemmas. Within donor organizations it is the Programme Officer (PO) who is the face of the donor for most NGOs. In a donor organization, historical legacies also tend to maintain a profile of the past, with POs handing over a list of their favourite NGOs to their successors, or conversely a list of NGOs informally blacklisted by them. Unlike in government funding, each donor grant is individually negotiated between the donor and NGO, taking into account the needs of the project/institution, the capability of the NGO to utilize the grant and the donor’s budget.
