Asian linkages : NGO collaboration in the 1990"s -- a five-country study

This study examines trends in PVO activities and the potential for improved partnerships in five Asian countries -- Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. After a regional overview, in-depth reports are provided on the major foreign and indigenous PVO"s in each country. Bangladesh has the highest level of foreign PVO involvement of any nation its size, but only a few of the foreign PVO"s are committed to strengthening indigenous groups. Foreign PVO"s have also been slow to forge relationships with their domestic counterparts in Indonesia, though this trend is changing as formal bonds grow between Indonesian and foreign PVO"s. Indigenous PVO"s in Nepal are just coming into their own professionally. While several foreign PVO"s have assisted them technically, their vast grassroots energies -- and those of the more informal people"s associations as well -- remain largely untapped by donor community. In Thailand, national development-oriented PVO"s are a recent phenomenon, emerging only in the 1970"s. Foreign voluntary groups also began work during that decade in the area of refugee assistance, and are now in a good position to help Thai organizations. Sri Lanka, unlike other parts of Asia, has had much more success in collaborative efforts as international PVO"s and donor agencies have often willingly joined with domestic groups. For each country, the report provides specific recommendations to build and enhance partnership activity between development institutions.