The Paradox of Sustainability: Reflections on NGOs in Bangladesh

Abstract

Drawing on research from Bangladesh, this article questions the dominance of a narrow view of sustainability that rests predominantly on financial considerations. The push for financial sustainability has produced ambiguous results and, more important, has also introduced a degree of uncertainty into the relationship nongovernmental organizations maintain with their members. This article will argue that in the context of Bangladesh, an accurate notion of sustainability rests more on social and political considerations than on economic ones. Fundamental tensions exist between social/political and economic considerations, and paradoxically, the relentless pursuit of one may undermine efforts to establish the other. The article therefore seeks to subject the logic and validity of efforts to promote sustainability among nongovernmental organizations in Bangladesh to theoretical and empirical scrutiny.

Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids: A case study from Bangladesh

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“…This focus is not meant to downplay the importance of the other dimensions of sustainability such as the operational, identity and interventions described above (WACSI 2015) or the social and political dimensions (Devine 2003;Hayman 2016). Instead, it is because financial sustainability has been the most expressed concern and the major sustainability risk facing many NGOs operating in Ghana (Marinkovic 2014;Arhin et al 2015;Kumi 2017a) and elsewhere as evidenced in the USAID Civil Society Organisations Sustainability Index (USAID 2018).…”

The Power of Relationships: Love and Solidarity in a Landless Women's Organisation in Rural Bangladesh

“…By the early 1990s, the rise of neoliberal ideologies within the international donor community had led to a growing focus on NGOs as a preferred alternative to the state in the delivery of services. There was a massive expansion in official aid flows to NGOs in Bangladesh, along with calls for them to scale up their operations and move towards financial sustainability (Devine 2003). A version of these changes played out in the microcosm in Saptagram.…”