What is NGO?
History of NGO’s
The term, “non-governmental organization” or NGO, came into use in 1945 because of the need for the UN to differentiate in its Charter between participation rights for intergovernmental specialized agencies and those for international private organizations. At the UN, virtually all types of private bodies can be recognized as NGOs. They only have to be independent from government control, not seeking to challenge governments either as a political party or by a narrow focus on human rights, non-profit-making and non-criminal.
The structures of NGOs vary considerably. With the improvement in communications, more locally-based groups, referred to as grass-roots organizations or community based organizations, have become active at the national or even the global level. Increasingly this occurs through the formation of coalitions with other NGOs for particular goals, such as was the case in the case of the Bam earthquake for example.
A civil society is composed of three sectors: government, the private sector and civil society, excluding businesses. NGOs are components of social movements within a civil society. In the case of Iran, where civil society is not yet mature, NGOs can have an important role in strengthening the foundations of an emergent civil society. The issue of independence is an important one in the credibility of an NGO. It is hard for NGOs not to come under any governmental influence.
