1. No category

"They treat us as gods."
"They treat us as family."
“
“So, Why do you Work in
the NGO-Sector?”
Differences in Work Motivation and Involvement
between Full-time Professionals and Local
Activists
Lehrforschungsbericht
„Development, Democratisation and Belonging„
Presented in the Winterterm 2008/2009
University of Bielefeld
Faculty of Sociology
Utz Riehl
Matrikelnr. 1762266
[email protected]
First Referee: Dr. Eva Gerharz
Second Referee: Dr. Christian Meyer
Bielefeld, 22nd April 2009
Acknowledgment
This study grew out of a research stay in Nepal from July to October 2008. I would like to
thank everyone who made this time a memorable experience for me.
Further, I am very thankful to the four women who helped me with its formation. This is
foremost my supervisor Dr. Eva Gerharz, as I could always count on her support and advice.
Besides, Prof. Dr. Pfaff-Czarnecka and Prof. Dr. Lachenmann provided me their helpful input.
Finally, my mother who always listened to my ideas.
Contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2
2. Contextualization ............................................................................................................. 3
Description of the NGO-Sector in Nepal.............................................................................. 3
Classification of NGOs ........................................................................................................ 6
3. Methods and Methodology .............................................................................................. 7
Sparking Research Interest and Developing a Research Design ........................................ 7
Field Access and Applied Methods .................................................................................... 8
4. Types of Work Motivation .............................................................................................. 12
Introduction: Defining Work Motivation .............................................................................. 12
Group Consciousness due to 'Group-bonded' Involvement ............................................... 14
Political Awareness due to Personal Involvement ............................................................. 18
Professional Commitment due to Acquired Involvement ................................................... 24
Well-paid Commitment due to a Lack of Involvement........................................................ 29
5. Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 31
Introduction: Recapitulating the Antecedent ...................................................................... 31
Involvement and Positionality: To Work for Identity and Belonging ................................... 32
Differences in Involvement ................................................................................................ 37
6. Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 39
Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 41
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
1. Introduction
2
"Things are very bad here, so I think that this is a high time for people like us to work seriously and
sincerely for the betterment of our country." Y.
Why do people work in the NGO-sector1 of their country? In the case of Nepal this question
becomes more and more salient as its NGO-sector still continues to grow rapidly since its
'mushrooming' period after the wake of democracy in 1990 (Pokharel, 2000). According to
most of the informants of the following study, the primary answer to this question is that
these people want to contribute to the development of the country in general, and the
development of certain groups in particular. On the contrary, it is a common public perception
that a lot of 'rotten apples' (Bhattachan, 2004) adhere to the sector being driven by pecuniary
rather than civic or social motives (Panday, 2006). Literature addressing this topic often does
not miss accusing tones (e.g. Bhatta, 2007; Pandey, 2004; Neupane, 2004). In this regard
one must comprehensibly wonder what the actual motivation of people was who work for a
NGO or international NGO (INGO) in Nepal. This question is related to these persons´
perception of the activities and the characteristics of the organization they work for, like the
working conditions for example. Accordingly, a NGO can be considered as a pool for people
who have been attracted to the type of work it offers and the conditions it connotes, like the
salary, self-satisfaction or professional status.
On this note the following report is concerned with the facets of work motivation of members
and employees within the NGO-sector in Nepal. Its intention is to identify different
appearances of motivation in conjunction with connoting conditions of the work, as well as to
reveal their sociological structure underneath. It will relate these aspects to the accordant
organizations and thereby give theoretical feedback to existing practices of NGOs
concerning aspects like fundraising or recruitment.
The aforementioned situation and history of the NGO-sector in Nepal is given more detailed
attention in the second chapter by an accordant description, as well as a classification of
NGOs that will be used throughout the report. The third chapter outlines the methodical
approaches applied within the study and reviews methodologically their pros and cons.
Within the fourth chapter the empirical data is brought out and sociologically questioned.
Therefore, the chapter is divided into a short introduction, which includes a definition of work
motivation, and four subchapters of which each concerns with a certain 'type' of work
1
NGO stands for Non-Governmental Organization, see also chapter 2.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
motivation. The gained findings are theoretically embedded in the following discussion, and
accordant results are presented in the subsequent conclusion.
2. Contextualization
There are today few countries in the world in which (…) NGOs are allowed to operate so freely
(following far from cumbersome registration procedures) than in Nepal. (Ridell 1994: 8)
Description of the NGO-Sector in Nepal
When the term Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) appeared in the international public
for the first time with the establishment of the United Nations Organization in 1945 2, Nepal
already looked back on generations of traditional social voluntary organizations (TVO) set up
by different ethnic communities such as Thakali (Dhikur), Limbu (Kipat) or Newar (Guthi)
(Bhattachan, 2002, Chand, 2000). Krishna B. Bhattachan attests that "Nepal used to rely
heavily on voluntarism on everything, including governance, resource mobilization, and
cooperatives" (Bhattachan, 2002, cited in: ibid., 2004: 65). Nevertheless the 'formal' NGOsector in Nepal is quite young, because of the suppression policy in line with the autocratic
partyless Panchayat system between 1960 and 1990. So, after the foundation of the first
formal NGOs in Nepal in 1947, Gandhi Memorial Charkha Prachar Guthi3 and Paropakar
Aushadhalaya4 only a bunch of organizations were allowed to carry out social work in Nepal
during this time5, and their activities were rather service oriented and not coordinated
autonomously (Pokharel, 2000: 58). Instead social organizations activities were centrally
arranged and facilitated by the Social Service National Coordination Council (SSNCC) 6
chaired by Her Majesty the Queen, and therefore "most of the donors and NGO money was
channeled to sustain Panchayati political activities and only limited persons belonging to
'creamy layer' of society have had access to the funding" (Bhatta, 2007: 19). So, an
2
In Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter, see
http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/chapter10.shtml
3
With the main objective of giving the deprived communities an understanding of spinning and
weaving.
4
Established as orphans home and medication centre and now known as Paropakar Sansthan.
5
Inter alia: the Nepal Red Cross Society, the Nepal Disabled Association, Leprosy Control
Association, Nepal Children Organization, TB Control Association. Further, Bhattachan states:
"Probably the first NGO imported to Nepal from abroad was Rotary Club founded in 1959 and the first
foreign funded induced NGO was Nepal Family Planning Association founded in 1960. (Bhattachan,
2004: 66)
6
Constituted in 1977
3
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
autonomous and capable coordination and allocation system was missing in the NGO-sector
4
at that time, institutionalization was marginally conducted7.
Along with the wake of democracy in 1990 came a rapid growth of the NGO-sector (from 250
in 1989 to 1210 associated with the SWC8 in 1993, Heaton Shrestha, 2002: 8). The reason
for this is mainly to be found in Article 12 of the constitution of Nepal dealing with the
freedom of expression, freedom to assemble and the freedom to form unions and
associations9. In order to deliver a more specific cause for the so-called 'mushrooming' of
NGOs (Bhatta, 2007: 20), apart from the known ascription to the failure of market and state
to provide services (Dahal, 2001), the accordant literature offers several explanations (see:
Bhatta, 2007; Heaton Shrestha, 2002; Gautam, 2004, Pfaff-Czarnecka, 1997): Firstly, with
effect from the changed political environment after 1990 a growing number of active people
formed organizations (or shared in already existing organizations) to gain importance within
the development of the nation-state. Secondly, the shift in the course of development aid
from 'welfare approach' to 'development approach' stimulated the demand for the
involvement and growth of the NGO-sector as well, since NGOs became a more important
contact for foreign development agencies than the government. Associated with that is a
third explanation, characterized as the 'money culture' (Bhatta, 2007: 20), which refers to the
flow of development funds as the main reason for people to engage in the NGO-sector, as
NGOs have the freedom to acquire technical, physical and financial help from INGOs and
donor agencies (Karki, 2004: 1). These different explanations regarding this topic point to the
variance of motivational aspects inherent in the sector. This subject will be taken up later in
the discussion.
Although (or perhaps precisely because) "the period of 1991-1996 was a heyday for the
NGO sector" (Bhattachan, 2004: 66), it missed an internal order as NGOs were only required
to register with the District Administration Office (DAO) in the particular district in which their
central office is located, and the Social Welfare Council "which was supposed to coordinate
monitor and evaluate the NGOs´ activities (...), was virtually inactive" (Pokharel, 2000: 59).
Therefore most of the international NGOs were left in confusion, since they did not know
whom to approach. As a result they started to implement by themselves, whereby "the issue
of cost-effectiveness, sustainability and participation became futile" (ibid.). Similarly local
NGOs were left in confusion, too, as they did not have an appropriate contact person for
7
As the first conference of Nepalese NGOs in 1971 underlines (Bhattachan, 2004: 66). By contrast
attempts of institutionalization of voluntary action were undertaken already in the later part of the 19th
century (Chand, 2000: 66).
8
The Social Welfare Council (SWC) replaced the SSNCC after 1992 in order with the Social Welfare
Act which ended the chairmanship of Her Majesty the Queen and included the organization in the
government structure (Pokharel, 2000: 58).
9
http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countries/nepal/nepalconstitution.html
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
coordination. Áphno mánche10 and adhocism compensated meritocracy and institutionalism
with everyone being "virtually free to receive as well as give supports" (ibid.: 60). To rectify
this situation, the SWC took two rigorous steps: It urged INGOs to always rely on local NGOs
when conducting a project which needs implementation in the field. In addition NGOs were
not allowed to receive foreign funds without approval from the SWC. When approved, they
had to maintain a regular renewal of their registration and to submit a progress report as well
as an audited statement of their account every year.
On the one hand, these arrangements established a certain infrastructure within the sector,
on the other hand they did not succeed in eliminating all problems: NGOs that could not get
approval from SWC, or disagreed with its criteria sought for funds without the registration,
and INGOs still selected their partners according to their own rules. So institutionalization
and transparency were enhanced, but were still limited. Accordingly, there is a popular
perception "that there are many 'bad apples in the basket' of NGOs" (Bhattachan, 2004: 67),
embodied by often used expressions like 'Dollar farmers', 'begging bowl' or 'Nepal´s rotten
organizations' (ibid.: 67; Heaton Shrestha, 2002: 8). Even media debates about NGOs
happen "in polemical or accusatory tones" (Onta, 2006: 84)11. But the SWC´s division into
organizations approved and not approved for foreign partnership according to their efficiency
(Pokharel, 2000: 61) also emphasized on another problem of the sector: The importance of
representation of articulacy, capacity and professional skills, respectively the criteria for the
flow of foreign development funds. The more NGOs attempt to meet these criteria in order to
appeal to donors, the more it becomes comprehensible that they are seen as a 'vehicle of
foreign donors' (Gautam, 2004) or "as externally motivated ephemeral organisations" (ibid.).
Briefly said, it seems that in Nepal (like in many other countries) the euphoric tone underlying
Schneider´s 'barefoot revolution' (Schneider, 1988) appears to be inappropriate, as the
Nepalese NGO-sector has to struggle with its own rapid growth and the ensuing complexity
and confusion. While different approaches exist to explain this rapid growth and the people´s
underlying motivation to contribute to it, its limited institutionalization and transparency entail
the sector´s image as a corrupt 'seesaw'12. In order to base the following study on a
functioning description of the NGO-sector, the next chapter is devoted to its classification.
10
Heaton Shrestha writes about áphno mánche: "literally 'one´s own people', and refers to the close
circle of kith and kin which regularly exchanges favours and information” (2002: 16, fn: 22).
11
Interestingly, I was told that the public image of CBOs and TVOs is the direct opposite.
12
Certainly not only the Nepalese NGO-sector is called into question. Thus, Juha Vartola writes:
"Since the 1970s, due to the poor performance of public and private agencies in development
management, the donors have increasingly been involving NGOs in development management.
However, the gap between the rich and the poor remained more or less unchanged throughout Asia.
Despite their comparative advantages in many sectors of development, present days the efficiency
and effectiveness of NGOs are also being questioned." (2000: 4) For a more general insight into
critical development studies (CDS) see also: Dar & Cooke, 2008; Hancock, 1989.
5
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
Classification of NGOs
6
Nowadays, organizations registered with the SWC count 26,000 NGOs and 200 INGOs. The
estimated number of NGOs altogether in Nepal is 40,000 and "there are no social issues that
are not influenced by NGOs" (Karki, 2004: 1). Furthermore they all differ in constitution,
approaches, sphere of influence et cetera. All that makes the sector complex and ubiquitous
and therefore difficult to arrange. Thus not to over-simplify, I will classify NGOs spaciously
following Karki (ibid.: 5f) as NGOs on national or international level13 (1), as NGOs on the
district level (2), and as Community-based Associations (3). Here the following aspects are of
importance: (1) NGOs on national or international level are noticed as 'large‟ (I)NGOs14
concerning their number of employees and the mobilization of volunteers and finance.
Further, they usually do not implement by themselves, but by coordinating with NGOs on the
district level. (2) Accordingly, NGOs on the district level depend on the cooperation to a
certain extent, as they are usually project-funded. They operate on a voluntary, a nonvoluntary or a mixed basis within their district, besides they may conduct own projects and try
to approach self-sustainability. (3) Community-based Associations, however, operate within
their own community and consist of community members. Therefore they are also
recognized as 'self-help groups', since their task is to address social issues of that particular
community15. The advantage of this classification lies in its simplicity, which makes it easy to
be applied to all sorts of NGOs without "giving a distorted picture of what are complex
realities and relations" (Tvedt, 1998: 24). So it will be used as a heuristic vehicle for empirical
data, which will enhance its shape accordingly at the time when suggested.
However, prepared with information about the history and the current situation of the
Nepalese NGO-sector as well as with a classification of its organizations, the empirical data
can be approached, but before that the next chapter will display and discuss how this data
was gained.
13
Karki himself does not include international NGOs in his classification. But as the description of
national NGOs matches both I modified it correspondingly in order to expand it for my case.
14
Heaton Shrestha uses the term „elite NGO‟ in this context. Here both terms are used
interchangeably.
15
Although this study in concerned with NGOs according to the first two categories this information
about CBOs will become helpful later on.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
3. Methods and Methodology
7
Don´t rely on the 'Rough guide to ...' when you are on the aeroplane! (Mercer, 2006: 101)
Sparking Research Interest and Developing a Research Design
My search for an interesting and fruitful research topic was led by my concern for actors
within development cooperation. Especially the differences in working conditions between
large (international) NGOs and the various local organizations in the field caught my interest.
I wondered how these differences influence the cooperation between them, as well as the
particular cooperation with the groups with whom each of them are in contact. For example,
how does a small local NGO interact with local stakeholders, compared to a NGO in an
international environment? This and other questions in line with the research topic were
supposed to meet aspects such as differences in financial and professional status as well as
differences in purpose and approach, which altogether have a strong impact on development
cooperation as a whole. The applied research design had to be able to cover all these
aspects. This design will be introduced within the following passage, while its implementation
is described within the subsequent chapter.
Due to the aforementioned complexity of the NGO-sector in Nepal, I decided to adopt and
triangulate various methods of field research to circumvent the risk of following singlemindedly a track in sense of a deductive logic through something analogical to Clifford
Geertz's „grande idée‟ (1983).
To rather „track down what is off the beaten track‟ I planned to conduct one or two expert
interviews (Bogner, 2002) just to gain a broad insight into the field, followed by several
informal dialogues (Girtler, 2001) which were supposed to spark my interest for a certain
direction. After finding this direction I intended to enhance understanding for it by conducting
problem-centered interviews (Witzel, 2000)16.
Andreas Witzel's approach of the problem-centered interview is very suitable for the
conduction of a big amount of interviews due to its reciprocity of inductive and deductive logic
(ibid.). The main reason for the use of this interview technique was the expected range of
variation of NGOs in Nepal which, in my opinion, forced me to aim for a larger quantity of
interviews17. Therefore this study is not to be seen as a 'classical intensive' qualitative case
study. Thus, the emerging disadvantages of this approach (namely a loss of flexibility and
spontaneity) are discussed below.
16
Here I suppose it is necessary to distinguish between different types of interviews, although a
fragmentation of interviews into accordant types seems sometimes difficult or inappropriate.
17
And as Prof. Dr. Pfaff-Czarnecka kindly recommended to me during an appointment regarding my
research.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
The main function of the interviews was to provide data about an organization, its members
8
or employees, and their working style and individual profile regarding their working
conditions. To gain deeper insights into the daily work of an NGO I also planned to do a
participant observation within one organization, which was on the one hand partially fruitful,
on the other hand difficult to conduct and therefore insufficient. Now the execution of the
planned methods will be given attention, followed by a discussion of their pros and cons.
Field Access and Applied Methods
Finally arrived in Nepal. The exit door of the Kathmandu airport actually denoted the access
door to my field, due to the fact that a country´s NGO-sector as a whole cannot be entered in
sense of a particular locality within the country. When questioning "where to undertake
fieldwork" (Binns, 2006: 14), my answer had to be everywhere and nowhere. As I could not
take a look at my field by myself I had to search for experts within the field with the ability to
take a bird´s eye view of the sector in order to give me an understanding of its outline and
texture. Several appointments with various development and research institutions18, like the
GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) in Nepal, provided me an opportunity to be introduced
to those experts. At this point especially the various encounters with staff and students of the
Kathmandu and Tribuvan University were very fruitful to find persons who are associated
with the NGO-sector without direct affiliation to an organization and willing to be
interviewed19. According to my plans these interviews were supposed to be expert
interviews, as they are appropriate to texture the research field (Bogner, 2002: 37). Besides
conducting those interviews reading the wide choice of local literature about the Nepalese
NGO-sector was also very helpful to me, although I have to admit that not at any time was I
able to look through this whole field with its thousands of actors, connections and exceptions
which always reminded me of a never-ending puzzle. So, the much happier I was about
adding any new piece to it20.
The cross-fade between the first (expert) interviews and the subsequent informal interviews
was smooth, due to the ubiquity of the sector: Usually I asked the interviewees (and others)
18
Kindly arranged by my supervisor and her assistant.
In this way interviews were conducted with a Professor for Development management, a former
employee of a bilateral donor, with an employee in executive position in the Social Welfare Council.
20
Although I had to be aware of theoretical assumptions about my field: According to Strauss & Corbin
the researcher should not load up his mind with formal theories about his field to maintain a clear view
on empirical phenomena (theoretical sensitivity, see Strauss & Corbin, 1996; also Brüsemeister, 2008:
152). Pugh mentions: "even if you think that you are not adopting a theoretical approach, you are. You
need to know which discourses are shaping how you look at the NGO you are studying." (2003: 133)
Therefore I tried to read merely descriptive texts about the NGO-sector and at the same time reflecting
about my own view. At this point discussions with my research colleagues and especially with my
supervisor turned out to be very helpful.
19
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
for people I could approach, and in the same manner they usually knew someone or some
organization I imagined to deliver a fruitful interview21. Besides, I also got used 'to be on the
22
knocker' , as NGOs and INGOs and related actors are easily to be found in the accordant
districts of Kathmandu. In these ways I got in contact with members or employees of several
NGOs of different types and sizes to whom I tried to establish a more informal relationship.
As Girtler criticizes the use of informal interviews for an exploration that is followed by a more
standardized technique for the reason of a possible superficiality (2001: 156), I gave this
exploration some time and effort. Further, I did not use any guideline or the like, but
conducted 'active interviews' (Holstein & Gubrium, 2004) to meet Girtler´s idea of the 'eroepic dialogue' (2001) in sense that both interview partners (interviewer and interviewee) play
a part in the dialogue as learners and therefore have equal status (ibid.: 165). Besides this, I
conducted two narrative interviews with persons I experienced to be quite willing to narrate
about their career and background, which at that point seemed very interesting for me (see
below). Here, I tried to comply with Schütze´s division into an autobiographical narration
induced by a story-telling prompt, followed by the interviewers enquiry and the interviewees
attempt to abstract several aforementioned aspects (1983: 283). The gained output of the
narrative and informal interviews was immense and paved the way for my further course.
The conducted interviews were supposed to flow into a participant observation of one
particular organization, since I already had gained access to several organizations and
expected a more 'context-drawn' picture from the use of this method. So I upgraded one of
my yet existing contacts to a more familiar level, spending time with the members of a certain
organization and attending group discussions and activities (Bruyn, 1966: 13). On the one
hand, this observation enabled me to experience vividly and tangibly what I had only heard
about by then, which definitely cleared my view on various aspects and enhanced my
understanding of a NGOs work. On the other hand, I was confronted with several emerging
complications which weighed heavily. Due to the language barrier23, I could not really play a
role as an active participant (Lüders, 2007: 392) and hence had to deal with a feeling of
interfering the working process. In addition, I gained insufficient results compared to the time
spent, since apart from conversations and discussions there was not too much to be
observed. But above all, I felt like focusing on a too small margin of this enormous field,
which just did not suit the research´s aim at that time (see below). Nevertheless, the
21
In sense of a theoretical sampling (Strauss & Corbin, 1996); I tried to base the decision of where to
conduct the next interview upon recent ones, using the approach of 'minimal' and 'maximal' contrast
(ibid.: 164).
22
Mainly in the subsequent research process
23
Especially in group discussions was the established language usually Nepali, and to me it seemed
insufficient to get a translation of what has been said by frequently prompting someone. In the same
manner I felt uncomfortable with the limited (and thereby biasing) character of a real time translation of
a group discussion by an external person.
9
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
observation gave me insights, which the other methods could not, and so I tried to observe
10
on a smaller scale during the further research process whenever the possibility was
suggested.
Glaser and Corbin suggest the researcher to already start the analysis during the field stay
(1996). Hence, I usually listened to the interviews conducted that day, and wrote down what
was of particular interest24. This is how my attention was caught towards the interviewees´
motivation to work for their organization due to the fact that many of them were not able to
explain it concretely25. Further, there was a high fluctuation in perception of this motivation
between the different organizations. Therefore, I wanted to learn more about this motivation
and its reasons and appearances, and let my further interviews refer to work motivation and
working conditions within the NGO-sector.
Focused on this topic, I conducted the aforementioned problem-centered interviews
according to Witzel (2000), since his approach uses prior knowledge resulting from previous
interviews as heuristic-analytical framework for further questions and for guidelines (ibid.).
Another cornerstone of the approach is its use of narrations, which gained importance for my
research, since I assumed a possible connection between motivation and experiences in life
and career. Beyond that, I needed to conduct a broad amount of interviews, according to the
high variance of the NGO-sector. This amount can be managed by the interplay of inductive
and deductive logic of the approach, respectively its focusing on a central problem. Along
with these advantages come several disadvantages: Although the approach attempts to
circumvent any 'a priori focus' (ibid.), it still includes the risk to miss relevant questions and
issues (Mayoux, 2006: 120). But even without a distinct purpose of validation of hypotheses,
a considerable quantity of interviews means that, due to a lack of time, not everything can be
measured meaningfully (ibid.). Another problem related to this approach refers to its use of a
guideline: Hopf points out that the use of a guideline leads to a possible bureaucratization of
interviews in sense of 'ticking off questions' (1978: 102; 2007: 358). This means a disruption
of spontaneity of both, interviewer and interviewee. To cope with all these problems, I bore
the according critiques in mind, when developing the guideline as well as in the interview
situation itself. Interviews I had conducted in the past helped me with this. The concrete
implementation of that meant to approach every interview open-mindedly as if it was the first
one and to consider everything said as meaningful from a certain point of view26. In this
connection, I used the guideline rather as a mnemonic to avoid using it as a protection from
open conversational situations and to prevent merely ticking off. Further, I tried to encounter
24
As Witzel recommends the use of postscripts in line with the theoretical sampling (2000).
They rather tried to paraphrase their motivation as "some kind of spirit", a certain „helping attitude‟ or
as „something that touches your heart‟.
26
The frequent discussion about the research and any findings with one of my research colleagues
was very helpful in this context.
25
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
certain interviewees several times depending on the time (Girtler: 2001: 164)27. However, a
general problem of interviews accompanying my research topic in a specific way probably
28
had a strong impact: Social-Desirability (Esser, 1986) . With the bursting of the 'NGO magic'
bubble (Mercer, 2006: 99) the number of censorious studies about NGOs increased, which
raised the awareness of people in the sector of contentious questions (ibid.). Further, it might
be easy to distinguish between a person willing to contribute to development aid (and
therefore being 'desirable') and someone who might be in the wrong place (Bhatta, 2007;
Heaton Shrestha, 2002)29. My 'strategy' to deal with this problem was to focus on the
narrative part30 about the career and certain experiences and perceptions in life and at work.
Besides this, I bore in mind that everything what has been said should be considered as the
interviewees´ representation of themselves. Apart from that, I tried to create a 'noninvestigative' atmosphere31 during the interviews by behaving accordingly and never asking
directly about motivation or the like32. But despite all the mentioned approaches, in the end it
is the reader who has to decide about the comprehensibility of the upcoming statements.
At a glance: during the whole research process 37 interviews33 were carried out in line with a
triangulation of methods. Two of the interviews accord with the approach of narrative
interviews, six of them refer to the so-called 'ero-epic dialogue'. Three others can be
described as expert interviews, the remaining 26 were conducted as problem-centered
interviews with an expanded narration part. The interviews were usually held in the
organizations´ offices, nearby restaurants or at the interviewees´ home in Kathmandu as well
as in the Kathmandu valley34. The interviewed persons are concerned with the NGO-sector
in Nepal, all of them work in representative positions for a related organization35. These are:
local NGOs, ethnic activist groups, and youth organizations on the district level; further:
27
Especially when I sensed that an informal interview is more appropriate to gain interesting results
from a certain interviewee. In this way the 'phase' of problem-centered interviews was interspersed
with informal interviews.
28
For deeper insights into the topic of representation as a strategy in this context see Pfaff-Czarnecka,
2005.
29
See also chapter 2
30
I.e. in line with the problem-centered interviews
31
In this context it has to be mentioned that I assured all interviewees anonymity to eliminate the risk
of doing a harm and to create a comfortable atmosphere for the interviews. Therefore no names of
interview partners or organizations are mentioned in this report, hopefully this does not compromise its
comprehensibility.
32
Fortunately the little language problems I usually was confronted with helped in this context. English
is generally taken as being the lingua franca in this sector (Heaton Shrestha, 2002).
33
With an average time of ca. 120 minutes
34
In line with the participant observation also during an amazing trip to a local area one organization is
the supportive of.
35
Except for the expert interviews, whose interviewees were at that time not affiliated with an
accordant organization.
11
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
NGOs on the national level (so-called 'large' NGOs), international NGOs, multi- and bilateral
12
donor agencies36.
The analysis of the collected data is based on the principles of the Grounded Theory
according to Strauss and Corbin (1996). Respectively, it already started during the fieldwork
in sense of a theoretical sampling and without theoretical inducement. Further, it tries to
produce 'theoretical concepts' by the proposed coding scheme and finally to develop useful
assumptions about the researched field (ibid.). Its execution was assisted by the software
'MAXQDA 2007', where this report was grown, too.
4. Types of Work Motivation
"So we have this kind of heart, this kind of knowledge, this kind of experience, that´s why maybe we
are here" P2.
Introduction: Defining Work Motivation
The following chapters display the collected empirical data this work is based on by giving
prototypic examples of interview quotes which became relevant for the analysis and the
subsequent theoretical assumptions37. To detect appropriate hints towards motivation I have
to avail myself of a compatible definition of work motivation, originated from the
correspondent field of psychological studies. In an analogous manner as for the classification
of NGOs38, it has to give the empirical data enough room to enhance it. The reason for that is
the difficulty (and often futility) of postulating constraining terminologies in a culturally
different social context they did not evolve from (Lachenmann, 1995: 1). Apart from that there
is (similar to NGOs in Nepal) just a too great variety of definitions referring to motivation,
because of its many aspects39. On these notes the following definition of work motivation
according to Pinter (1998: 11) seems useful for the issue of this work as it draws on
definitions of several other writers40 not following a single paradigm but being "general and
eclectic enough" (ibid.):
36
Also persons of the accordant NGO and INGO associations were interviewed.
Although all the conducted interviews found their way into the analysis only a selection is shown
here for reasons of readibility.
38
See chapter 2
39
E.g. Kleinginna and Kleinginna report and categorize 140 definitions (1981: 263ff).
40
Especially Jones (1955), Steers and Porter (1979), and Vroom (1964).
37
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
Work motivation is a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual´s
being, to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine its form, direction, intensity, and duration.
41
Central to this definition is the 'set of energetic forces' which implies "the multiplicity of needs,
drives, instincts, and external factors (...) without necessarily accepting the primary
importance of any of these sources" (Pinter, 1998: 12). Behind these 'sources' hide different
psychological concepts, which will be concerned with in the discussion when suggested by
empirical data.
As "motivation is not directly observable and must be inferred from person and situation
antecedents and consequences" (Kanfer et al., 2008: 6), these sources can be found in the
experiences within a person´s past, while the primary indicator of work-related behavior is
'effort' (Pinter, 1998: 12). Accordingly, the analysis was led by the intention to relate
statements about effort within the interviewees´ work to antecedent situations in their life.
In the case of this study, the cited 'form' and 'direction' of work-related behavior (effort) are
also of interest, as this is always directed towards the attainment of specific goals (Pinter,
1998; Latham, 2007). Thus, its form and direction are in connection with the over-all goal and
direction of the organization a person makes an effort for:
Organizations generally develop as instruments for attaining specific goals and are likely to emerge in
situations where people recognize a common or complementary advantage that can best be served
through collective, as opposed to individual, action. Thus, by its very nature, organization implies an
integrating and structuring of activities directed toward goal accomplishment. (Bedeian, 1980: 3)
According to this description of the term organization, this can be seen as a body for
collective action directed towards the attainment of the collective goal42. Therefore, form and
direction of someone´s effort should more or less match the attainment of the organization´s
goal. To what extent this happens will become perspicuous during the following chapters.
As the experiences within a person´s past induce his or her effort, this comparison also
allows conclusions to be drawn about how his or her work motivation influenced the
organization´s nature yet. Accordingly, the encountered relations between antecedent
situations and effort are put into the context of the interviewee´s organization.
To present these relations comprehensibly, a classification of types of work motivation
seems to be appropriate. The resultant assumptions are discussed in chapter 5. The term
41
This definition already appeared in an earlier review (Pinter, 1984) and is not changed here.
To let this assumption gain momentum the interviews were conducted with persons in positions that
are representative for the accordant organization.
42
13
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
classification, however, is neither to imply a clear differentiation between 'this type' and 'that
14
type' of work motivation, nor to conclude that a specific experience leads to a specific effort,
in the sense of an 'if and only if-determination' (Gehring & Weins, 2004)43. Further, it is not
intended to judge a certain work motivation or an accordant behavior as more or less
important for the concern of development (with exception of the fourth type). The following
quotes are primarily to be appreciated as emic perceptions that can hint at certain relations
between antecedent situations a person has experienced and his or her effort for, and
influence on, an organization within the Nepalese NGO-sector.
Group Consciousness due to 'Group-bonded' Involvement
Especially in ethnic activist groups and NGOs on the district level that appeared to have
close bonds to their 'target groups'44 I was confronted with very emotional statements when
people mentioned their effort and the organization´s aim. Here the frequent use of either
aggressive or sentimental concepts and language was most significant:
"Our issue is to fight all kind of discrimination in Nepal and establishment of a less discriminizing
society. To develop awareness among the excluded communities, how to fight discrimination and to
empower them and to help them to make a strategy how to fight." N.
"I want to expose our organization to as many people as possible throughout the world, so that
everyone knows what poverty does in Nepal for the migrant women returnees." P1.
"In general meeting we share whatever we have, the good things, if we have a sad thing, if we are
fighting with husband. We share everything in the general meeting and we hug them, look, think
positive, we have to do hard work, don´t be hopeless." P2.
These quotes originate from voluntarily working members of organizations committing to
facets of rural development. The first comes from the project coordinator of an ethnic activist
group concerning the equal treatment of rural ethnic communities, and the second from the
president of an organization for the rights of migrant women returnees from rural areas. The
third was mentioned by the project coordinator of the same organization as a part of an
explanation of their activities. Despite the different objectives and the apparent difference in
approaches (fighting vs. hugging), they all seemed similar to me in quality and intensity of
their effort to achieve these objectives, especially in regard to the emotional involvement
43
One should bear in mind that the term work motivation and the revealed types of work motivation
within this work are (merely) theoretical constructs.
44
The reason for these close bonds is explained later in this chapter.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
connoted by the language they used. All three of them work voluntarily for their organization
along with their roles as bread-winner or mother in their families and other statements attest
them a high personal share for their 'target groups'.
The reason for their commitment and the aforementioned close bonds becomes perspicuous
when illuminating their past:
"Actually I am from an ethnic community here in Nepal and that is Limbu. And when I went to school,
my father took me to school to educate me, then, you know, most of the other people are Brahmins
and Chetris
45
and then they were very trained in Nepali, but I had a difficulty to speak in Nepali. My
accent was different, and then you know, they used to laugh at me, and then that embarrassy. You
know I was not very enjoined to go to school. You know that sort of things you know from every corner
of the life we experience, you know, the discrimination. So I have a type of feeling that there is a
discrimination and this is not correct." N.
46
"I worked as illegal worker in India , as undocumented worker, and I faced a lot of problems, and we
were also contributing to that country with sweat and blood, but still they treated us as undocumented
worker. We were denied of so many rights and that is what really motivates me now." P1.
"That´s why we are working very positively and hard working in this NGO, because we know the issue,
we know the painful life, we know the happiness, we know the sadness, you know." P2.
According to these statements the interviewees once suffered from experiences of social
injustice as part of their own 'target groups'. So considering their organization´s concerns, it
becomes obvious that their commitment derives from their own personal experiences as 'one
of them'. I.e. they spend time to raise awareness of a certain social injustice and try to help
the concerned people to overcome their suffering from it due to a spiritual kinship, an
involvement with this group due to the group´s bonds, which are (at least) the suffering from
the same social injustice. They seemingly identify with those groups, as identification can be
described as the "awareness of having ideas, feelings, and interests similar to others who
share the same group characteristics" (Gurin, 1980: 30)47. Therefore, it becomes
comprehensible that they are dedicated to the support of the group, as well as to the
engagement against the injustice due to the momentum of 'group-consciousness':
45
Limbu, Brahmin, and Chetri are ethnic and caste affiliations.
The name has been changed.
47
This description will be enhanced later in this report.
46
15
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
Group consciousness
16
48
is defined as identification with a group in which an individual recognizes the
group‟s position in a power hierarchy, rejects rationalizations of relative positioning, and embraces a
collective solution to group problems (Duncan, 1999: 612).
Thus the drive for their commitment comprises the identification with the group as well as
with the experienced injustice. As also other interviews revealed a similar relation, I assume
that the effort of commitment for a certain group and against aspects like discrimination,
exclusion, or social injustice can be traced back to a 'group-bonded' involvement, i.e. an
involvement with the group that suffers from these aspects. Therefore, regarding a first type
of work motivation, one can say that the drive for commitment is born by a group
consciousness that derives from a 'group-bonded' involvement, including experiences of
injustice as indicator for the (own) group´s position in society.
Accordingly, this type of work motivation is comparable to the term 'sampradáya' (serving the
own community) Heaton Shrestha uses when describing "traditional organizations and forms
of self-help" (2002: 16)49. The similarity to the term CBO is obvious. Further, this type implies
high personal share in the concerned group along with respect and awareness of its social
position:
"When we went to the airport with friends to come for some migrant worker, its: sorry are you migrant
worker and they say yes, and we give them kata
50
and they get surprised. Why are you respecting
us?, they ask. Because they never get this respect. And look we are also migrant workers, we respect
you. You can´t imagine how happy they are." P2
"You know, we are very aware of the discriminations that happened in Nepal traditionally in the past,
and we don´t want to continue that sort of trouble in Nepal." N.
The quoted respectful behavior towards the concerned groups as well as the awareness of
existing discrimination can be seen as connotations of the aforementioned group bonds.
Fittingly, all interviewees matching this type of work motivation perceive their attitudes and
activities as activism, which is in line with Gellner´s definition "as the practice of campaigning
to influence or re-make the world in line with a consciously articulated progamme" (Gellner,
2004b: 2). This is attended by a strong preference and use of development approaches that
are people centered and based on participation and rights, which seems comprehensible as
these approaches are considered to be 'bottom-up' and the aforementioned interviewees
48
'Consciousness' refers to "a set of political beliefs and action orientations arising out of this
awareness of similarity" (Gurin, 1980: 30).
49
Although she states that NGOs "are keen to rebuff public suggestions that they serve primarily 'their
own'" (2002: 16).
50
A white scarf offered in greeting according to a Tibetan custom. It indicates the good intentions of
the person offering it.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
obviously match this consideration. There is also a noticeable emphasis on the importance of
practical knowledge and experiences:
17
"Even we are not that much academic, like the INGO, but we have practical knowledge, so the
practical knowledge is very important." P1.
[About conversations with potentially new members] "You have so much knowledge, why not you
share, even if you don´t become a member, also please share your experience, we need your
experience. And we are doing this kind of job, we were also same like you, please you are an
important person for the society." P2
Here the terms practical knowledge and experiences refer to the knowledge, which has been
gained from daily tasks and unskilled work, as well as to antecedent situations one was
confronted with51. Their ascribed importance reflects my perception of the working style
within these organizations, which seemed to me to be informal, unstandardized and far from
bureaucratization52. Especially in opposition to the later appearing importance of professional
knowledge, I will get back to this subject again.
Also important to mention for the subsequent discussion is the struggle for funding and the
strong will for self-sustainability related to members linked to this type of work motivation:
53
[Mentioning the principle of 'call for proposals' ] "It takes one week to understand the conditions and
you don´t even know if you get the job." N.
"For the sustainability we do a lot of activities. And we don´t want to be like when there are donors we
are there, when there are no donors we are not. We have also faced situations, when we had no
donors for a few months." N.
"We want to open a beauty parlor, a restaurant with the migrant women returnees. And i do handicraft
and give ten percent here. And we gave all our pocket money here." P2.
Many organizations that consisted of persons who are involved with the concerned group
themselves seemed to struggle with the donor agencies´ conditions for approval of funds and
to be very interested in achieving self-sustainability. As the second quote foreshadows there
51
Especially regarding a social injustice; in case of the quote above for example: denial of rights and
oppression as a female migrant. In other cases: experiences as a member of a certain ethnic group,
as domestic workers, as women.
52
In varying intensity depending on the organization.
53
Very often the allocation of jobs and funds from donating agencies to implementing organizations
(i.e. district NGOs) works on the principle of approval of a NGO´s proposal or a NGO´s response
regarding a call for proposals.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
is also a will for independency that will gain importance later on. At present it was pointed out
18
that a certain group consciousness induced by the recognition of the social position of a
group one belongs to can constitute a motivation to establish or work in an organization
committed to the enhancement of this position. This motivation involves a high personal
share in this group and awareness of its position. Further it is attended by an activist
behavior, an informal working style and the will to be self-sustainable. These assumptions
base upon statements of several interview partners of organizations described as ethnic
activist groups and district NGOs with close bonds to their target groups.
Although the conducted interviews originate from single members of an organization,
conclusions may be drawn from the whole organization, if it recruits its members or
employees within the group:
"One friend here had to take care of an old man, but he not behaved good, he is sexual harassment all
the time. And she say I am not that kind of person, whatever I have to do, I take care of you very
nicely, i feed you medicine, good food, cleaning house, everything, but that´s not my job. She fighting
like this, but he follow like this all the time, jumping like this and she almost cracked like this, you
know, like this psycho. This kind of things, you know. And she to the hospital so many times also and
the one social worker find her in the hospital and then she helped and she was crying like this. And so
we took her here and everyday we convinced here, so many things convinced, convinced, convincing
lot, and now she is handling the one part of our job here. She is very happy now. Also she has some
worries how will she help her children, how will she send her children to school. Now she has become
good, we are really happy to see her face like that. So this kind of case a lot we have." P2.
As long as the recruitment happens as quoted the form and direction of the members´ effort
should strongly match the organization´s goal, because then new members are similarly
motivated as old ones due to the same group bonds and experienced injustice. Accordingly,
the work motivation as well as the group consciousness and accordant aspects remain in the
organization. A commitment without these concrete group bonds will appear in the next
chapter.
Political Awareness due to Personal Involvement
After addressing members of 'group-bonded' organizations in the last chapter, now I deal
with statements from members and employees of district NGOs that are concerned with
rights advocacy and of Kathmandu-based district NGOs that give attention to a certain (rural)
area54. These persons appeared to me to be well-educated (including an academic
education, sometimes in foreign countries), still very often they would work voluntarily or for
54
The most organizations I encountered fall into this category.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
lower salary than they could (e.g. by working for an INGO)55. Some of them agreed to a lower
salary due to job change into one of these organizations. The reason why they 'sold
themselves short' was frequently described to me as 'some kind of spirit' that induces their
dedication. However, when going into detail, three reasons to make an effort for such an
organization emerge, which I will approach in turn:
"In the organization where I used to work there was some kind of boundary and I want to be free. I
want to do what I want to do and this work was not satisfying. Here I am passionate." Y.
"I don´t want to follow orders, bureaucracy, I want to do what I think is good to serve people." F.
"After leaving INFO
56
I was offered a job by private, but I didn´t enjoy much. Here we don´t calculate,
we do it for the cause." C.
"But after five years I also quit that job, because I felt that as an international agency person I was
pretty badly limited by the western agendas. (...) even NGOs that are meant for women´s development
are decided by certain invisible heads, either those who fund them or those who are there as male
decision makers. And you have to go in their perspectives and women were not aware of their own
rights, they were not capable, because they are not critically aware. So then I quit that job and initiated
this organization." D.
Regarding a first reason these quotes reveal the working conditions as an incentive for many
of the interviewees. These are, as I witnessed, less rigid, bureaucratic, hierarchical and
achievement-oriented compared to so-called elite NGOs or INGOs. The stated refusal of
orders, boundaries, and 'invisible decision makers' spotlights the little-studied field of antiauthoritarian attitude as opposition to authoritarianism57:
Authoritarianism is a personality characteristic defined by rigid adherence to conventional mores,
obedience to traditional authorities, and aggression toward perceived outgroups. (Adorno et al., 1950)
The relation between the refusal and the term anti-authoritarianism is consistent with the
relation Adorno et al. (1950) found between anti-authoritarian personality and a personal
conscience which is "quite autonomous and independent of outside codes" (ibid.: 774) and a
"rejection of heteronomous authority instead of its acceptance" (ibid.: 771). Further, it
matches the findings of Kreml regarding the terms 'anti-order' and 'anti-power' of antiauthoritarian attitude (1977). While the conducted interviews produce concurrent evidence
55
Despite their high position as executive coordinator, president, or chair.
The name of the organization has been changed.
57
During my search it appeared to me that anti-authoritarianism is most appropriately explained by its
opposition authoritarianism, which seemed common for the authors concerned with this topic, too.
56
19
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
for such a relation the reason for an anti-authoritarian attitude could be seen in the character
20
of familial socialization:
"Maybe I inherited this from my father, who was a very silent, but very, very active activist, who made
us to be like this. And I am very much an activist for the course of human rights, for the course of
gender rights, for the course of peoples rights, for the course of egalitarian society, see. I am reflecting
back and I am learning on whatever has been implemented on us as a strategy to make us to be like
this by my family, by my father. (...) it was him who made me decide my own. All he taught us is you
need to decide for your own." D.
"What I am doing right now is because of my study, besides my friends and family influenced me a lot
with ideas." Y.
Apart from the mentioned meaning of the course of studies (which will appear later) the
interviewees refer to 'ideas' and autonomy gained within the family as an influence. As "the
family mainly shapes one´s views on authority, obedience, participation, class loyalties,
educational worth, job values, and gender roles (Kreml, 1977: 13) their statements, thereby,
also hint at an anti-authoritarian socialization as a cornerstone for the accordant attitude.
Although I do not want to presume all the quoted interviewees to be raised in a certain way, it
seems likely that they have been in close contact with anti-authoritarian values and attitudes
in their past (e.g. due to friends as quoted above), and the associated experiences certainly
geared their individual perception of their political and social environment. Significantly, many
of the interviewees seemed to be quite amenable to socio-political ideas and ideologies, and
besides developed a critical point of view:
"Then when I went as a teenager to, you know, colleges and then I came in contact with all the
information about the revolution against discrimination in different countries, like in France the
revolution you can see, like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and of course Gandhi. You know,
those types of personality and their philosophy and those types of movements that influenced me as
well." C.
"I was trying to do my best to get most highest score for my study, but at the same time I was also
becoming more and more educated about my own context in terms of political, social and economic
context. I was doing my degree in economics and at the same time I was seeing the micro-economics
in a very different way. So my young head, my young mind got overwhelmed with hundreds of
questions, unanswered, dissatisfied. I was very badly disappointed by the courses that was not really
related to the reality, so when I came back I decided to do my thesis on the impact of external
intervention in the communities." D.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
It seems that they expanded their perception on 'their own context' by certain ideologies. This
attention to critical thinkers in the political and social scope certainly can be seen as
reciprocal to an anti-authoritarian attitude in the sense that they both intensify each other. But
moreover the intended exposure to accordant knowledge can be seen as a certain
experience that constitutes awareness within a particular field. Therefore, it marks the
second reason to work for the aforementioned organizations, as "sensitivity to social and
historical events may lead indirectly to rights activism" (Duncan, 1999: 618). The fact that
these interviewees seemed to challenge this knowledge critically displays again their antiauthoritarian attitude.
Besides the first two reasons also experiences during significant phases of the interviewees´
lives seemed relevant to them for having gained momentum in their commitment:
"Those who do masters degree were supposed to go for one year voluntary work in remote Nepal, in
the rural context. which is a big challenge and at the same time very exciting adventure for me, going
out of my protective home. (...) So it was quite a tough, challenging and very exciting part of my life,
and my eyesight became very wide and sad, when I went to the remote parts of Nepal, it was
completely different from where I was. My perception of my life, my perception of my country, my
perception of democracy within the country really grew and became very critical, and then I think,
that´s how I started to come out. (...) My critical awareness, my dissatisfaction, my commitment work
for that really initiated, when I was in a village as a volunteer." D.
"In my mind, my character was non-violence and when we studied in law, my feeling was a country
cannot take any the people lives, no death penalty. That was my basic concept. (...) So when I was in
college they [two Nepalese political activists] were hanged, and in that days I started to, you know,
speak with my students. (...) It is against the human rights, against the law. So I am not going to
accept this decision of this process. So I´d like to go in that place to monitor that process. so I went
there, and then I monitor, and then I come back, and that´s my first impression I have. So my feeling
was, I have to work and protect our citizen and I have to stand against the dictator rules, then I started
as pro human rights activist or democratic activist. And several time I went to jail, you know, eleven
times, when I stand against the government, and the government arrest us. So more than three years
I was in prison and that was a real motivation." C.
The direct contact to a certain group can apparently create awareness about its situation.
Similarly a directly and tangibly perceived injustice can draw someone´s attention to it.
Although the thereby associated mechanisms within this third reason cannot be discovered
in detail, it seems obvious that, similar to the other two reasons, certain experiences make an
impact on a person´s political behavior, as "one´s political behavior, in general, and intention
to participate or vote, in particular, are products of the political socialization experiences a
person learns and lives with." (Duncan, 1999: 622).
21
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
Furthermore, the above stated reasons like the close contact to certain values and attitudes,
22
the exposure to the political and social environment, as well as concrete vis-a-vis
experiences during a phase of someone´s life, are very momentous and personally involving.
On this I assume that a political awareness is created by antecedent situations that involved
someone personally, opened his or her eyes, and induced a personal effort on political
activities:
"Unless you have a divine dissatisfaction within you, then you cannot really be a real political activist
for the deprived and underprivileged and poor. So I am an activist, I am a facilitator, I am a catalyst for
them." D.
Similar to the here stated 'dissatisfaction' as a reason for political activism, Duncan and
Agronick point out that "the tendency to attach personal meaning to the world at large is
associated with political activism and responsiveness to social movements" (1995: 563). This
leads to a second type of work motivation described as a political awareness that derives
from a personal involvement in the above mentioned settings and entails political activities as
well as a relationship to the concerned groups.
Accordingly, similar to the quotes within the last chapter also most of the interviewees
matching this type of work motivation described their attitude as activist and presented a very
emotional commitment. They could not hide their emotions when talking about the injustice,
unjust exclusion or the discrimination they fight against, as well as when mentioning the
concerned groups. Further, these informants depicted themselves primarily as facilitator of
them (e.g. as quoted above) or as someone who fights for their cause.
Despite their academic background they appreciate practical knowledge as an advantage for
field contacts, and they seemingly developed a critical view on the prevailing procedure of
fundraising:
"The donors just want to get their work done." F.
"No proposal is bad, its just not in the line with the donor." W.
“The biggest problem of NGOs is if they totally rely on donors, because they want things to be done
the way they want it to be.” Y.
"We said that if you at all believe in us, if you at all can understand what we are, then you fund,
otherwise we don´t need any fundings, because we really want to grow in a team and be matured
enough, so that we continue commitment" D.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
Even though the accordant informants did not mention any activities regarding the
achievement of self-sustainability these quotes suggest another resemblance to the
interviewees within the last chapter which is the will for independency. This can be taken as
an effect of the aforementioned reluctance towards bureaucracy and hierarchy, as well as of
their anti-authoritarian attitude. This, analogously, complicates the relationship between them
and a potential donor.
However, this chapter revealed a second type of work motivation created by personal
involvement in terms of close contact with anti-authoritarian values and attitudes, exposure to
the political and social environment, and direct vis-a-vis contact to unjust practices and
concerned groups. These three interacting aspects58 lead to a critical appraisal of the political
and social environment and within a change of the own perception to political awareness and
the will to change this environment. Therefore, this type 'produces' facilitators of concerned
groups who fight for their causes. Further, the will for independency of persons it applies to
complicates their relationship with donors. Similar to the type of work motivation introduced in
the last chapter, this type and its accordant aspects might also remain in the organization as
long as the recruiting practices emphasize on it:
"Those who have faith in it, agreed the principals and behaved that way, those who really believe in
equity, who internalized the inherent existing discrimination and dichotomy between men and women,
higher caste and lower caste, educated and uneducated, remote and those who have all the facilities,
then we sort of start coming together." D.
As this quote shows the interviewees I associate with this type attempt to recruit people who
'internalized' the existence of injustice, discrimination, or exclusion. Accordingly, they insist
on a recruitment that implies a long period of settling in to be able to detect if their ideas and
ideologies match the principles of the organization. Depending on the concrete
implementation of this approach the effort of a new member of employee should match the
organization´s aim to a certain extend. The following chapter will reveal an entirely different
recruiting practice in accord with a likewise different working style.
58
Here, in my perception, the reciprocal interaction between all three of the mentioned aspects (as far
as occurred) seems important, as only one of them would hint at its insufficient impact on the person.
This will become more obvious in the next chapter.
23
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
Professional Commitment due to Acquired Involvement
24
Contrary to the quotes of the last two chapters the quotes cited in this chapter are exclusively
associated with Nepalese full-time professionals who work for the so-called 'large' NGOs and
INGOs59. Similar to the informants introduced in the last chapter these persons are also welleducated, but they distinguish themselves from the former by their salary, which is much
higher60. Also their high-quality work environment sets them apart from those61. Further, as
mentioned in the last chapter, their organizations are more formal and achievement-oriented
than NGOs on the district level, i.e. there are strict work schedules and deadlines, precisely
differentiated application areas and other business-management tools for output increase.
Beyond that, they usually do not implement in the field by themselves, as INGOs are not
allowed to62, and large NGOs often do the coordinative part within a project. Apparently it is
for these reasons that the statements I was confronted with sounded more formal than the
afore quoted and showed most notably a regard to the coordinating part:
"Usually we don´t do activities in the field with the communities by ourselves, but we hire local NGOs,
local service providers, local freelance-consultancy to collect information and so on." F.
"Our role is to compile all the information and analyze at the organizational level. Information is
scattered and our role is to compile, analyze and draw the results, the messages. Another one is
strengthening, planning, monitoring capacity of partners [local NGOs], because one of the most
lacking area is they don´t have proper capacity in planning, in monitoring, and evaluations." WA.
"I would say that in terms of need assessment we do a lot of participation from the local stakeholders,
but the capacity of local stakeholders in relation to actually writing the concept down, developing a
budget and then going and making presentation to donors or just sort of competing for any kind of call
for proposal is very limited, so we have a larger role there. We actually do write a proposal and
procure that. (...) So a lot of times the responsibility of making sure that the project gets done, making
sure that the project management aspects cover everything that is promised to the donor and make
sure that all of the indicators that we said we are going to achieve or will be achieved or have very
good reasons why they cannot be achieved, that sort of responsibility a lot of times also falls on us."
W.
59
Which does not imply that similar quotes are impossible to find in other organizations.
According to the interviewees of the conducted expert interviews as well as to several interviewees
from NGOs and INGOs. Furthermore, this is a well-known topic in the literature (e.g. Heaton Shrestha,
2002; Bhatta, 2007; Hancock, 1989).
61
I.e. office buildings and interior, especially computers, desktop and writing utensils; for a nice
description of this work environment see Heaton Shrestha, 2002: 22.
62
See chapter 2
60
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
All the persons of relevance for this chapter occupy a central position in a large NGO or an
INGO that is concerned with rural development. With elation and in business fluent English
they used to describe their activities to me which, as the quotes above show, comprise tasks
like monitoring, and doing the 'paperwork'. These tasks are perceived as a responsibility
which has to be undertaken by them as local organizations do not have an adequate
capacity. This corresponds to the organization´s different working standards: Similar to the
interviewees within the last chapter, they appreciated the organization´s working conditions.
But unlike those, they emphasized the high working standards which they compared to the
large profit-making organizations most of them had been employed before. Moreover, in
accord with their drive for results and use of business-management tools they also seemed
to benefit from other aspects of their work as those interviewees:
"I like the part of developing concepts, but I think the challenge always is to look for resources and
funding. Its almost like I wish there was part of money available for good concepts. And I think the trick
is, yes, there is money available, but to find, to connect, to get to the right place, and so that your
concept clicks with that individual is a bit challenging." W
"Basically I want to be a good evaluator. (...) I have the opportunity to contribute, so I feel like I have
the potential to fill some gaps." WA.
"First of all its contract work, so its for separate and it will not be for the rest of my live, but for me the
highest priority is that I subscribe to the ?? of the organization. So for that moment I can identify with
the organization and then secondly I must feel convinced that I can contribute something valuable to
the organization, so that I am not just hanging around. So that I can make my contribution to the
organization. F.
These quotes express quite well what many of my informants from large NGOs and INGOs
seemed to be up to. Instead of a personal and emotional involvement they rather showed an
organizational commitment i.e. to carry out their duties and responsibilities. In this sense they
seemed to me not to act in their case, but to complete a given order. Accordingly, only a very
few of them associated their work with the term activism, usually they distanced themselves
from it. However, as their over-all intention is to contribute their service to development
cooperation63, it seems that their attention was drawn to the issue of development work, and
they try to bring this attention in line with their perception of appropriate working conditions
as a professional employee. The interviews revealed that in the vast majority of cases their
perception of work and their attention to development work was raised by their education and
training:
63
Some of them also work as voluntary advisor for a local organization.
25
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
"I am an engineer for sustainable energy and I think one of the first few trainings at my design class
26
one of the things my professors talked about was as engineers its a big responsibility in terms of
contributing towards the environment, because whatever systems you design might have an impact on
environment. Now, you know, I mean, I took that as well as looked at Nepal as a country which really
can be one of the few countries that can really go towards renewable energy, (...) so I think those
things are things that have a larger impact on what we might be able to do." W.
"From the beginning in my studying times I wanted to serve the needy people and work in the
development sector." Co.
"It is because of being a student of developmental studies, because the college has provided us a
platform and that motivated us." WA.
Most of my informants referred to their education64 as the main influence for their interest in
development work. Significantly that is also where people use to gain a certain perception of
professional working style. Now the obvious assumption is that the decision to work in the
development sector can be geared by someone´s area of education, where he or she
acquired a 'taste' for development work as well as a certain professional approach to this
work. But as long as someone misses tangible experiences with, and close contact to, the
beneficiaries (Heaton Shrestha, 2002: 10), the accordant reciprocal aspects identified within
the last chapter are missing, and a personal involvement that sparks a 'dedication' to
development work is not given. A 'taste' for commitment remains therefore only a 'taste'
intertwined with a likewise acquired working style, and the involvement in this kind of work
merely keeps being an 'acquired involvement'. Thus, the drive for commitment is rather a
'knowledge of how to improve a complicated situation'. On this note, one can introduce a
third type of work motivation basing on an acquired involvement which, as long as acquired
only via education, leads to the described commitment with demand of a professional
approach.
Interviewees associated with the identified work motivation used to emphasize their intention
of 'enhancement or improvement of people´s livelihood'65, especially regarding traditional
habits that have been classified as antiquated (e.g. traditional cooking). Significantly this is
consistent with Heaton Shrestha´s propositions regarding staff of Nepalese NGOs that "saw
their contribution to local development (...) in improving people´s 'habits and behaviour'
(Nepali bani byabahar66)" (2006: 199), as they "saw their role as 'bringing light'" (ibid.: 200).
Considering the educational background and the acquired understanding of development
64
Mainly academic education
These are the most commonly used terms I have heard.
66
Emphases in the original
65
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
work, this role can comprehensibly be traced back to the aforementioned lack of personal
involvement and close contact to the concerned groups.
27
67
When simply asked about their organization´s most used approaches or concepts , an
interesting difference between these interviewees and the ones of the last two chapters
emerged: While the latter mostly referred to things like people centered or rights-based
approaches, the former used to explain how the organization manages the cooperation with
partners.68 They seemingly attach more importance to the cooperation with different partners
within the NGO-sector than to the concerned groups. I interpret this bias in cooperation as
another effect of the (emotional) distance between them.
Another difference to the informants introduced within the last two chapters is easy to
understand: Unlike them, the full-time professionals in elite NGOs and INGOs proudly
emphasize on the professional working style within their organization:
69
"Winston
in general in the market is looked upon in very high regard, because of the work that
Winston has done for a long time. As an organization we have contributed a lot and are looked upon
as very professional. That is one of the reasons why sometimes when we submit proposals we are
looked upon for taking on more responsibility of project management, because of our reputation. (...)
We have worked with some NGOs where we thought that looking at some really professional
management, but even there we were a bit disappointed in terms of what we got, we provided them
grants and monitored their progress and sometimes we had to intervene more than we had liked to."
W.
"Before I worked in a NGO and the higher professional here was one reason of my motivation to come
here." Co.
"We have a lot of staff and we have a senior management team and the senior managers think for the
future. This is a great advantage and makes us really professional." W.
Hopefully these quotes display the ascribed importance of a professional working style, but
apart from them, also the mentioned use of business-management tools and the over-all
drive for results should clarify its role for these organizations. In this context, the perceived
impact of the own professional standards on partners and other organizations within the
sector is noticeable, or the perception of a lack of professionalism. Analogously little attention
is paid to practical knowledge or field experiences, very few of my informants referred to
67
I used to ask this question simply without any particular context to provoke an answer 'on a gut
level'.
68
Two times I was confronted with an explanation about saving-management (i.e. how an amount of
saved money is reinvested in further projects).
69
The name has been changed.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
them70. But due to their professional skills and the appreciation of paperwork they do not
28
have to be in struggle with problems of fundraising. All the elite NGOs and INGOs I
approached can resort to a stable funding situation. Contrary to the organizations within the
last two chapters, there are no phases when money is lacking and salaries cannot be drawn.
Respectively, no time and effort is spent on activities to achieve self-sustainability; an
accordant stimulus is simply missing71.
Another main difference emerges when considering the recruiting practices. While new
members and employees for the organizations of the last two chapters are either recruited
within the concerned group or are selected by the organization´s principles and values i.e.
according to their behavior and internalization of experienced injustice, professionals are
recruited on the basis of advertisement in newspapers or on the internet. Without exception,
every informant I talked to was recruited in this way, and analogously none mentioned a
different recruiting practice. The subsequent recruiting process is mainly led by criteria of
competence like language ability (i.e. English), foreign stays, certificates of former
employment and so on, ergo criteria for professional working standards. Similarly, Heaton
Shrestha found out that regarding her study “management recognized only two criteria for
membership and mobility within the NGO social space: qualification and competence” (2002:
16). She identifies a prevention of recruiting practices basing on áphno mánche72 relations,
kinship or ját73 as the reason for this strategy. Regardless of whether this strategy succeeds
or not, it induces "a deliberate policy to intensify beneficiary - benefactor difference" (Heaton
Shrestha, 2006: 204). This, concerning my findings, leads to a recruitment of persons who
acquired involvement only via education and are respectively committed to the working
standards they have learned, but are neither personally involved with the injustice they
committed to oppose nor with the concerned groups and therefore never cross the divide.
In this chapter a third type of work motivation was identified. It refers to Nepalese full-time
professionals who work mainly for INGOs and so-called elite NGOs and bases their
professional commitment on involvement they acquired via education as well as on lacking
experiences with the struggle of concerned groups. Therefore most of them do not perceive
themselves as activists, but rather as someone 'bringing light' to beneficiaries whom they
distance themselves from. To meet professional standards within their commitment is of
great importance to them, which facilitates their cooperation with donors and enables them to
70
Except for set phrases like "indigenous knowledge is very important" without further mentioning it.
Interestingly, though all informants identified high costs as a disadvantage of organizations of that
size.
72
See chapter 2
73
Heaton Shrestha writes about ját: "literally, 'species' or 'kind' and is rendered in English as both
'caste' and 'ethnic group' (2002: 16, fn: 22).
71
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
resort to a stable funding situation. While these aspects distinguish those professionals from
the members and employees introduced in the last two chapters, the in my opinion most
important difference is the recruiting practice of their organizations. A recruitment via
advertisement and according to criteria of qualification and competence not only intensifies
beneficiary - benefactor difference but also replenishes the organization with persons who
have not developed a personal concern for the injustice and groups they have to deal with.
While the implications of this lack of personal concern are related to the subject of the fifth
chapter, the next chapter will be concerned with a lack of involvement.
Well-paid Commitment due to a Lack of Involvement
After introducing employees who refer to their area of education as the reason why they
entered into a commitment to INGOs and elite NGOs, I now focus on further full-time
professionals who reasoned other aspects for their work for these organizations. As I
encountered these persons only in INGOs and elite NGOs74, this chapter can be understood
as a subchapter of the antecedent one. Their reasons are very contradictory to all the
aforementioned and highly related to what Bhatta called the 'Pajero and Prado culture' (2007:
21)75:
"Many people would like to work with an international organization, I was one of them." G.
"I was a teacher before, and I was searching for a job with no monotony and some reputation. And
76
that´s why my main interest is social service, its very much respected. Luckyful I found Mata ." M.
"Previously in the government I used to get some 4000, 5000 NR per month. That was hard to sustain
my family, and when I joined this Watta
77
I didn´t worry about the salary. Now I get two to three times
as much." W.
"Its my job, I get well paid for this." S.
As these quotes display, people can also be attracted to work in the development sector by
aspects like money and prestige. While this finding is not new but already discussed by
74
Although this should not mean that one cannot find them elsewhere.
The Mitsubishi Pajero and the Toyota Prado are 4 X 4 vehicles often possessed and used by
financially strong NGOs and INGOs. Since they are very noticeable in the street they have become a
kind of symbol for these organizations.
76
The name has been changed.
77
The name has been changed.
75
29
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
several authors78 I want to raise the topic of their relation to the beneficiaries who they are
30
ultimately committed to:
"Now this is not my personal opinion, because I am not a person who is taking the development
activities. I am not implementing in the field, but my observation is that the community you are trying to
work with, they have the need of everything. So if you go to the communities, for example to the
farmers and ask them to follow a certain technique, like don´t use the insecticide, rather use the
natural way to get rid of the insect, but the community want also all the other things, they have lot of
needs, expectations." S.
I also visit from time to time, but only when it is my responsibility. Once in two years maybe." G.
"To fulfill our norm communities must be poor. (...) They treat us as gods." W
Due to the problem of Social-Desirability79 I hardly found plausible statements regarding such
contact and attitude to the beneficiaries. Hopefully these quotes convey the idea that I had
when conducting and analyzing the accordant interviews. The idea is that there is virtually no
will to foster a relationship with the concerned groups. Unlike as in all the other interviews,
there were also no hints given about antecedent experiences, close bonds or any other
involvement with these groups80. That means that although they maybe never experienced
momentously the beneficiaries´ struggle with injustice or exclusion, they still work for an
organization that is against these aspects due to the appeal of money and prestige.
Considering the meanwhile identified significance of involvement for the character of
commitment as well as the meaning of salary and prestige for the quoted persons, it
becomes comprehensible to say that these persons are "somewhat motivated to tap the
monetary benefit generated in the name of development and democratization" (Bhatta, 2007:
22). Hence, a lack of involvement padded by incentives like money and prestige must be
mentioned as a fourth type of work motivation.
As this type of work motivation is associated with professionals of INGOs and elite NGOs, it
connotes similar findings as the ones identified in the last chapter. It seemed to me that
interviewees almost felt embarrassed when asked if they perceive themselves as activist or if
they conducted activities to achieve self-sustainability, which would not be 'necessary'
according to their stable funding situation. Also, none of the interviewees referred to another
recruiting practice than advertisement, and, just as in the last chapter, they emphasized a
recruitment based on criteria like qualification and competence. In company with the other
findings, this aspect will be reintroduced in the following chapters of theoretical embedment.
78
See footnote 60 on page 24
See chapter 3
80
Even though asked about it to a greater or lesser extent.
79
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
5. Discussion
31
"They treat us as gods" W.
"They treat us as family" R.
Introduction: Recapitulating the Antecedent
While each of the last four chapters browsed empirical data to identify a certain type of work
motivation and its connotations, the following two chapters are to arrange and discuss these
findings to incorporate them into a coherent theoretical framework. To allow for an allencompassing and comprehensible discussion, these findings will initially be recapitulated.
Here, every type of work motivation is listed, followed by a brief summary of the encountered
connotations:
1. A group consciousness that derives from a group-bonded involvement with antecedent
experiences of discrimination or injustice against the own group. Here, the experiences of
involvement bonded the individual with the group as well as with its struggle and indicated
the group´s and the individual´s own position within the society. The accordant interviewees
perceive their activities as activist and exhibit high personal and emotional share with this
group, as they are recruited from the group itself. Their emphasis on practical knowledge and
informal working style lets them struggle with the formal conditions of the usual fundraising
procedure and, correspondingly, they are highly interested in achieving self-sustainability.
2. A political awareness that has developed from personally involving times of exposure to
anti-authoritarian values and attitudes, the political and social environment, and constant visa-vis experiences with injustice and concerned groups. Here, these times induced a certain
view on society, a personal argument with unjust action and an alliance with the concerned
groups. Therefore, accordant interviewees perceive themselves as activist facilitators.
Despite their academic background they appreciate practical knowledge and struggle with
fundraising, as they do not want to comply a funding authority, due to their anti-authoritarian
attitude and reluctance towards bureaucracy.
3. An interest for development work which was sparked by the area of education. Here, the
acquirement and consideration of knowledge, regarding social work during the academic
studies leads, to a likewise acquired involvement as well as to a professional approach. This
can be seen in an attitude of 'bringing light' to beneficiaries while remaining with the image as
benefactor and therefore keeping a distance to them. Their emphasis on professional
knowledge, as opposed to practical knowledge, enables them to keep up an uncomplicated
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
relationship to donors, and they become recruited through advertisement in the newspaper
32
or the internet via criteria such as qualifications and competence.
4. Incentives like money and prestige that pad a lack of involvement. Here, the prestige and
high salary that accompany an employment within some organizations of the NGO-sector
attract people who do not seem to be encouraged by any involvement. As accordant
informants are well-paid and also very professional, they insist on differences between them
and the beneficiaries whose practices and knowledge they are not very interested in. They
also become recruited via advertisement in accord with the same criteria as stated above.
These are the main points revealed within the last chapters. They will be settled in the
following discussion. The next chapter will be concerned with the term involvement, and the
subsequent chapter will highlight its differences in terms of commitment.
Involvement and Positionality: To Work for Identity and Belonging
All the types of work motivation arranged in the last chapter refer to the term involvement as
the main drive to work in the Nepalese NGO-sector81. Within this chapter, the term will be
discussed, assisted by an informal interview that is solely concerned with the complicated
relationship between activism and professionalism and will give momentous and helpful
inputs82.
Empirically led, the term involvement was introduced to characterize a particular motivation
to work. Similar to the term work motivation, it connects, as a theoretical construct,
antecedent experiences with work affiliation in sense of a certain drive. Within this study
three occurrences of it were revealed: a 'group-bonded' involvement, personal involvement,
and an acquired involvement83. Their differences in character refer to the different
experiences they originate from. These are mainly experiences that provided insight of the
social world and its conditions, as well as the people´s struggle within. Furthermore, these
experiences induced a certain relationship between an individual and the concerned groups,
accompanied by an individual´s commitment for these groups and against injustice in terms
of group consciousness, facilitation, or enhancement of livelihood. On this note, the term
81
To what extent it can be applied to other countries´ development sectors is to be attested by further
studies.
82
When the importance of the terms activism and professionalism became more and more obvious
during my field stay I started seeking for an interview partner with whom I could discuss about them. I
found this partner in a chair of a district organization whose members call themselves 'professional
activists'.
83
Since a lack of involvement only refers to other reasons for motivation, such as money and prestige,
it is not mentioned here.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
involvement can describe an impact of antecedent experiences that affected individuals, on
the one hand, by displaying the (unjust) practices of the social world they live in, and, on the
other hand, by creating cognitive and emotional bonds between these individuals and the
concerned groups involved under the umbrella of these (unjust) practices. Further, it leads to
an accordant action. Its adjacency to the term 'belonging' becomes obvious, when
considering a description according to Anthias:
Belonging has a number of dimensions. There is the dimension of how we feel about our location in
the social world. This is generated partly through experiences of exclusion rather than being about
inclusion per se; a sense of, or concern with, belonging becomes activated most strongly when there
is a sense of exclusion. The relational nature of belonging is important here. Belonging in this sense is
about both formal and informal experiences of belonging. Belonging is not only about membership,
rights and duties (as in the case of citizenship), or merely about forms of identification with groups, or
with other people. It is also about the social places constructed by such identifications and
memberships, and the ways in which social place has resonance with stability of the self, or with
feelings of being part of a larger whole and with the emotional and social bonds that are related to
such places. (2006: 21)
Anthias refers here to 'the feeling about our location in the social world' and not about the
feeling about the recognized location of others, as the description of involvement above
would suggest from a certain point of view. But it is the 'sense of exclusion' within social
practices gained by 'formal and informal experiences' that bonds the individual and the
concerned groups together as they both got in contact with it (whether the individual
volunteered within an 'excluded' community or read up on it)84. Thus, it is 'under the umbrella‟
of experienced practices of exclusion that an individual identifies with the concerned group
and where he or she constructs a 'social place'85. This is, to put it bluntly, entitled as: "I feel a
sense of belonging to people who suffer from this particular injustice which came close to
me, too." In this way, an individual´s location in the social world is connected with the
experienced location of others. The individual got 'involved' with these others, which is not
merely a meaning of compassion:
"A professional activist is someone who is paid actually. That´s his job actually. He gets recruited and
he gets paid for what kind of work he is doing, but because of a certain ideology, certain values,
certain fashion for the cause of the kind of issue, the person is dealing with, that also makes him an
activist, because you are actually advocating for a certain cause. (...) Its because of his life situation,
because of his very local context. For example if I was only a professional now working with
84
Certainly it is the quality and quantity of the experiences that specify to what extent these bonds are
tight. This topic is discussed within the next chapter.
85
This assumption is based on idea that identity refers to a process rather than to a description
(Mouffe, 1994).
33
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
communities, then I am engaged in their suffering, because it is part of the project, but once I hop my
34
job, then I am not bothered about it. But for a professional activist you can even leave the job, then
you will have certain honest, that sort of responsibility. For example if my project got over, still I am
related, you know. They call my up beyond my office hours and I like to talk to them, because I am
also concerned of that particular cause. I want to keep tracking what´s happening." C.
Here, my interview partner described the work approach of his organization, whose
employees call themselves 'professional activists'. But apart from that, he also outlined what
was said above when emphasizing the importance of the cause or issue for his work and his
relationship with the communities. Obviously, this person, who was raised in the capital
Kathmandu and got in tangible contact with marginalized communities during five years of
social work, got personally involved with the struggle of the people within these communities.
Accordingly, he traces his "whole sensitivity towards poor and marginalized people and the
whole motivation to engage in rights issues" back to this experience. This leads to the
motivational aspect of the term involvement which, largely along the lines of work motivation,
connects a feeling of belonging with an accordant action, i.e. to work for or establish an
accordant organization. To explicate this aspect comprehensibly I will refer to Anthias again,
who suggested to use the terms 'narratives of location and positionality' (2002) when talking
about identity, which is closely related to belonging86. While the idea to conceive identity as a
narrative can be retraced to Martin (1995), Anthias refers to the narrative of location as:
A story about who and what we identify with (a story about identification) and also a story about our
practices and the practices of others, including wider social practices and how we experience them.
(...) From this point of view, any account that is given about a person´s place in the order of things (in
87
the broader sense) constitutes a story about 'location'. (2002: 498f)
She states that the experience of someone´s own practices and the practices of others have
constitutive meaning for his or her 'story', which is consistent with the aforementioned 'impact
of antecedent experiences that affected individuals by displaying the (unjust) practices of the
social world'. Furthermore, as her description explains a person´s identity (story about
location) also by reason of identification, it features points of contact to the above said
regarding the identification with concerned groups 'under the umbrella‟ of the same
experiences regarding practices of exclusion. That means that in the same manner as the
experience of social practices and a story about 'who and what we identify with' constitute a
86
In this sense Yuval-Davis et al. define identity as narratives that are "contested, fluid and constantly
changing but are clustered around some hegemonic constructions of boundaries between 'self' and
'other' and between 'us' and 'them' and are closely related to political processes" (2006: 2).
87
Accordingly she states that "a narrational account is not one that merely focuses on the
representational role of narratives" (Anthias, 2002: 498) what in a way enables my interviews to deploy
statements that give evidence about identity (see also chapter 3).
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
story about location, the experience of exclusive or unjust practices and the identification with
groups that struggle from these practices lead to a story of one particular location. That is the
place constructed by the individual who is involved with a group´s struggle.
As the involvement with the world´s unjust practices against certain groups becomes a part
of someone´s narrative, it can also function as a catalyst to reproduce further involvement
with these groups: what the interviewee above termed as 'a certain honest' or 'sort of
responsibility' can be understood as an ascription either made by these groups in sense of
"Please, keep facilitating us88, as we share something" (i.e. experiences) or made by himself
in sense of an honest, responsible person who facilitates those people or even by his social
surroundings (as 'the facilitator'). However, the construction of his narrative as facilitator will
maintain as long as he keeps facilitating89. In the same manner, one can say that once
involved, a person´s narrative becomes extended by the aspect of 'being involved' 90 and if
this is perceived as complementary it has to be maintained or even enlarged by further
involvement i.e. commitment. Accordingly the interviewee mentioned:
"I mean definitely somewhere there has to be a connection, a complementary, between your passion
and your own self-interest. I think the issue is most important aspect here. Because its the issue that
actually started my interest." C.
In his case, this 'connection' or 'complementary' can be seen as the mentioned ascriptions,
while his 'self-interest' would be the ascribed position as a facilitator. As he is, similar to most
of my other interviewees, involved with the concerned groups he occupies a prominent
position as someone who 'stands up' for them, who supports them91. This position connotes
everyone who works actively in the development sector and points at his or her position in
the group´s hierarchy (and the society´s hierarchy in sense of a public image). It is a part of
the extension of involvement of a person´s narrative and is constructed and maintained by
this person him/herself as well as the concerned groups and the society as a whole. This is
consistent with Anthias´ argumentation:
88
He used the term 'facilitating' when talking about his activities.
The meaning of ascriptions for someone´s identity has a long tradition starting with Mead (e.g. in
Strauss, 1959), in the context of collective identity certainly with Barth (1969).
90
In the case of acquired involvement one can assume that ascriptions as 'someone who is interested
in development work' accompany the accordant field of study. These ascriptions can be made be
oneself, one´s family or peers. What that means in terms of commitment will be discussed in the
following chapter.
91
In this context Heaton Shrestha revealed a “formation of the identities of NGO workers as
progressive and middle-class” (2006).
89
35
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
The construction of difference and identity (as boundaries of difference and sameness), on the one
36
hand, and the construction of hierarchical social positions, on the other hand, are produced and
reproduced in interplay with the narrative structures around them. Therefore, narratives are never
innocent of social structure and social place, simultaneously reflecting and making sense of our social
position in the order of things while never being merely representational of this order. (2002: 500)
Anthias emphasizes here the meaning of social 'interplay' for the construction of a person´s
identity and social position, while she refers to 'reflecting and making sense' as an action that
deals with these aspects subjectively and intersubjectively.
In the same manner, the narrative as 'the development worker' comprises not only a
person´s place that is linked to a group´s struggle i.e. the involvement, but also a socially and
individually constructed social position within the group´s hierarchy as well as an element of
action, namely to maintain or enlarge place and position within the group by further
involvement (commitment). Analogous to Anthias´ argumentation this leads to the term
'positionality92:
Positionality refers to placement within a set of relations and practices that implicate identification and
'performativity' or action. It combines a reference to social position (as a set of effectivities; as
outcome) and social positioning (as a set of practices, actions and meanings; as process). As such, it
is an intermediate concept between objectivism and subjectivism, inhabiting a space between social
constructionism and approaches that stress agency. Positionality relates to the space at the
intersection of structure (as social position/social effects) and agency (as social positioning/meaning
and practice). The concept involves processes of identification but is not reducible to these, for what is
also signalled are the lived practices in which identification is practised/performed as well as the
intersubjective, organizational and representational conditions for their existence. (2002: 501)
Similar to the term involvement, also positionality connects social place and position with
'lived practices' bonded by the conditions for their existence and the identification inherent in
a certain 'placement'. I.e. as Anthias composes positionality of aspects of both structure and
agency, she refers to negotiations between social ascriptions of identity in terms of social
place and position evolved from antecedent situations in an individual´s life and his or her
related practices, his or her action. Similarly, involvement creates a particular social place
and a respective position due to antecedent situations in someone´s life that become a part
of his or her narrative and leads to the action of commitment as 'development worker' to deal
with this social place and the connoted position.
92
To a certain extent I divert Anthias´ concept of the narrative of positionality from its intended use, as
she uses it ultimately to explain collective identification of British-born youngsters of Greek Cypriot
background and their report on experiences of 'race' and ethnicity.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
That means that people, who got involved with a certain group´s struggle through certain
experiences of this struggle, extend their narrative by the meaning of being involved and
create a specific social place and position. By working in the development sector, they keep
this involvement and the accordant extension of their narrative, and to refer to their social
place and position they conduct a social positioning as 'the development worker'. By doing
so, they connect ascriptions as 'the development worker' with the intention to be 'the
development worker'. That also means that their way towards development work has been
paved by their decision as well as social mechanisms that made the decision for them.
To conclude: when a person experiences a group´s struggle and therefore gets involved with
this struggle as well as with the group that suffers from it, then a social place and a social
position are created by this person as well as by the social surroundings. With the
acceptance of the place and the position by this person his or her narrative gets extended by
the meaning of being involved. Therefore, this person is driven towards development work in
order to maintain or expand this extension in sense of further involvements, which keep his
or her perception of him/herself as „the development worker‟ alive. People intend to position
themselves in regard to their ascribed and perceived place and position as a part of the
involvement. That means that people who work within the NGO-sector commit themselves to
development, at least to some extent, in order to give a meaning to their identity, which has
derived from a feeling of belonging „there‟. Fittingly, Yuval-Davis et al. state that “Belonging is
about emotional attachment, about feeling 'at home' and - as Michael Ignatieff points out
(2001) - about feeling 'safe'” (2006: 2), while Kanfer et al. point out that “Work in adult life
contributes to one´s security and identity and may dramatically affect the individual´s physical
and psychological well-being” (2008: 2).
However, as the study identified different ways of commitment, the next chapter will complete
the consideration by incorporating these differences into the hence developed framework.
Differences in Involvement
Certainly, the stated cases of involvement differ from each other, as they vary in the
experiences they evolve from. As it is the experiences that form the nature of involvement,
they constitute also the respective part of someone´s narrative, and therefore, his or her
perception of an appropriate action towards development. Respectively, the idea of 'the
development worker' as well as the strategies to comply with it vary, due to the difference in
experiences of involvement that shaped this idea. From this point of view, it becomes
comprehensible that people, who are involved by group bonds, conduct their work with high
37
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
personal share as 'one of them'. Similarly, persons with academic background, who
38
developed a critical view on the social environment and got in tangible contact with struggling
groups, perceive themselves as activist facilitator. But it also means that people, who only
got introduced to the field of development due to their academic career, will merely apply the
accordant professional approaches they have acquired, as they neither got involved
personally nor are somehow bonded with the concerned groups. It is these people´s nature
of involvement that purports their idea of appropriate development work. That is to support,
primarily financially, marginalized groups they hardly identify with or (in the interviewees´
words) the 'enhancement of people´s livelihood'. Accordingly, these persons stick to their role
as professionals when approaching these groups:
"Many professionals in the development sector, they are not really accountable. They are professional
in a way that they are concerned about their professional inputs, their professional service only.
(...)
But he will not go beyond his terms of reference, he is responsible to coordinate a certain project, but
he is not accountable or he doesn´t get involved beyond that particular, you know, defined sort of
assignments. But where in activism you have to be very dynamic sometimes, that´s what I said, you
have to deliver more than what is expected from you as a professional, that´s what I guess is flexibility.
(...) An activist he is not confined, it´s more of a very informal sort of norms that actually motivates or
controls, regulates his action. for example a local community leader is like more pressurized from his
peer sort of members of his community." C.
93
As long as these professionals perceive themselves as benefactors, they will not 'go beyond
his (or her) terms of reference' i.e. involve themselves further on in sense of close contacts or
personally involving commitment. Thereby, while remaining with this perception, they
reproduce the difference between beneficiaries and benefactors. This means that due to their
particular experiences of involvement in the past (i.e. academic education), they stick to their
respectively constructed social place (or identity), which is the professional who 'brings the
light'. Fittingly, Hobart states that "the social worlds of developers, whether foreigners or
nationals, are almost always far apart from those being developed, as is the nature of their
involvement" (Hobart, 1993: 11).
Similar as Heaton Shrestha alludes to a feeling of 'non-belonging' (2006) of NGOs´ staff,
who described their stay 'in the field', one must say that, basing on the findings of my study,
people within the NGO-sector need to position themselves where they 'belong to' to comply
with their own identity. The nature of involvement constitutes their mindset, effort and
practice.
93
Also this quote originates from the informal interview introduced within the last chapter. Although the
interview partner talks about professional development work in general, he should know about the
topic, as he calls himself 'professional activist' and is concerned with it.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
6. Conclusion
(…) and any leftover of civic service and voluntarism is fading away. (Bhatta, 2007: 26)
To conclude, I would like to emphasize two main points of this report and their implications
on the Nepalese NGO-sector. This is, firstly, that involvement denotes a key factor of
motivation to work within this sector, as it relates involving experiences with accordant
activities. Within this study three of its occurrences were identified: a group bonded
involvement, a personal involvement, and an acquired involvement. It was also displayed
how a lack of involvement is padded by incentives such as money and prestige. The
discussion revealed its meaning for someone´s identity, social position and sense of
belonging, as well as his or her view on development work. This leads, secondly, to a
difference in practice of people working within the NGO-sector. The conception of
appropriate practices was described as closely connected to the own perception and
construction as 'the development worker', which is induced by, and therefore depending on,
the nature of involvement. In order to complete this consideration, I consult the
aforementioned connotations of the identified types of work motivation, respectively the
appreciation of different forms of knowledge, unequal approaches to fundraising and differing
recruiting practices.
In the context of different natures of involvement one can embed the difference in
appreciation of practical and professional knowledge. Professionals perceive their place and
position belt-linked to the accordant knowledge, just as the informants of NGOs on the
district level ascribe importance to practical knowledge, respectively the knowledge which
connotes their construct of a social place as group bonded or personally involved. But this
also means that both 'camps' will stick to their approach, as it is part of their identity, and
thus, part of the reason for their commitment. Therefore, they 'obliviate'94 the others´ point of
view, and hence, Hobart characterizes this gap as 'unbridgeable' (1993: 16)95.
In connection with this gap the unequal relationships to donors must be mentioned, as there
is obviously an analogy between the difference in knowledge and the difference in funding
situation. Fulltime professionals of large NGOs and INGOs have an appreciation of the socalled 'paperwork', an understanding of how to write a proposal, that members and
employees within NGOs on the district level lack or refuse96. Accordingly, their professional
94
In sense of an „active ignoring‟ (Hobart, 1993)
On this note one must assume that the nature of involvement, and thus the implementation of
different forms of knowledge fulfill a function regarding the maintenance of 'systems of ignorance'
(Lachenmann, 1994). To reveal this function, unfortunately, goes beyond the scope of this study.
96
In context of the personally involved persons of NGOs on the district level I prefer to name their
struggle with donors and the conditions for getting approval a 'refusal'.
95
39
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
attitude marks a plus factor regarding the competitive 'run for funding', and seemingly, they
40
take advantage of this factor. That is why my informants from NGOs on the district level
frequently described large NGOs and in particular INGOs97 as 'fundraising organizations'.
This imbalance of fundraising can be seen as one reason for 'smaller' NGOs to emphasize
the achievement of self-sustainability. But while they put a lot of effort into accordant
activities, they also described their financial output to me as insufficient. In the long run, they
have to (and already did) adapt the professional standards of INGOs and elite NGOs to
stand the competition, and therefore, have to encourage the recruitment of professionals.
At this point the problem becomes perspicuous: With the ongoing bureaucratization
(Ferguson, 1990) and the increasing professionalism (Heaton Shrestha, 2006) within the
NGO-sector the identified occurrences of group bonded involvement and personally
involvement become endangered species, while the above mentioned views on development
and related practices of professionals spread. Furthermore, as the chapter about a lack of
involvement highlighted, this opens the door for various other reasons of motivation:
[How would you describe this professionalism compared to the communities?]
"It is almost unfair to compare, because the people who work here are very much career oriented,
their performance is measured and is held on a much higher standard, while lots of the CBOs is a
group of very active members within the community, where they are not doing it for the career." W.
"Our organization is very professional, because everybody here wants to expand the organization." M.
98
"Our vision is to develop Eicco as international organization with branches in other countries." E.
These quotes are to give examples of the goals within 'professional' organizations. As one
can see these goals differ widely from the official aim of development. Considering the
description of organizations, cited on page 13, as 'instruments for attaining specific goals (...)
that can best be served through collective, as opposed to individual, action' one should
wonder, whether these organizations can adhere to their official aim of development, or
merely exist to provide jobs for professional, career-oriented business (wo)men.
97
98
Here especially INGOs that compete against local NGOs despite their (usual) coordinating function.
The name has been changed.
“So, Why do you Work in the NGO-Sector?”
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