The real world of NGOs : discourses, diversity, and development / Dorothea Hilhorst.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-248) and index.

Introduction: The Politics of NGO-ing -- An actor-orientation to the organization of NGOs -- Philippine NGOs: a history of turbulent politics -- Cordillera Day -- Damning the Dams: Social Movements and NGOs -- Social movements: theoretical perspectives -- The Chico river struggle -- Movement for regional autonomy -- Discourse and power -- The Power of Discourse: NGOs, Gender and National Democratic Politics -- Stories of NGOs in the Cordillera -- Stories of gender in the National Democratic movement -- Discourse at work -- Village Experts and Development Discourse: 'Progress' in a Philippine Igorot Village -- Development discourse -- Meanings of development in Kayatuan -- The Kayatuan Ladies' Association, Incorporated -- Dynamics within the KLAi -- Development discourse and social change -- Modelling Development: NGO Room for Manoeuvre -- Taking it step-by-step -- Room for manoeuvre -- Luaya: constituting NGO-PO relations -- Alternative narratives in Luaya: analysis -- Attributing identity to intervening agencies -- The social life of policy models -- Whose Reality Counts? Issues of NGO Accountability -- Rational and moral modes of accountability -- Accountability as a sense-making exercise -- Shattering the dream of transparency -- The case of the BPO women's weaving project -- NGO accountability -- An actor-oriented perspective on accountability -- Making Sense of NGOs: in Everyday Office Life -- Tour d'office -- Locales for sense-making -- The importance of social networks -- Of backgrounds and social networks.

Dorothea Hilhorst provides for the first time an empirically rooted and theoretically innovative understanding of the actual internal workings, organizational practices, and discursive repertoires of NGOs. Her evidence and insights lead to a different picture of NGOs from the one prevailing in the literature. Her model of NGOs--not as clear-cut organizations, but often with several different faces, fragmented, and consisting of social networks whose organizing practices remain in flux--is helpful to understanding not just these bodies, but official development agencies too.