Beneficiaries are actors too.pdf - Southern Institute of Peace ...

non-governmental activity' (MacFarlane 1998: 246). Further,
INGOs usually have more prestige and better access to
information; can do capacity-building via training, financial
support, provision of equipment, etc.; can operate across lines of
conflict; and can serve an early warning function for international
intergovernmental organisations or for their home governments
(MacFarlane 1998: 246-247). However it is this link with home
governments that has been a point of great consternation because
of the historical baggage of the west's interest in Africa and its
resources. Most African states have always felt that the west is
bent on pursuing a neo colonial agenda largely based on
exploiting Africa's natural resources. The role of NGOs especially
INGOs in conflict resolution is perceived as that of ensuring that
conflicts are resolved in the interest that serve the west best in
allowing the west access to Africa's natural resources. This may
be achieved in a number of ways which may include ensuring that
a puppet government comes into power that will bow to the whims
of the West or the propping up of tyrannical regimes that are
linked to the west. In Zimbabwe a bill was crafted by parliament
which was intended to curb the interference of NGOs in national
politics though the bill is still to become law.
Over the years studies have placed less emphasis on the ideal type
of NGOs and more on the actual role NGOs can play in the
conditions in which they find themselves (Hudock
1999;Mendelson and Glenn 2002). Hudock (1999) points out the
difficulties of cooperation between northern and southern NGOs,
stressing especially the southern perspective that dependence on
northern funding and agendas often prevents local organisations
from carrying out useful projects. She criticizes the tendency of
some scholarship to idealize NGO activists' goals: 'One of the most
fundamental weaknesses of the NGO literature is its suggestion
that NGOs possess a value base that drives them to act on
'altruistic 'motives. This absolutely contradicts one of the key
tenets of organisational analysis; namely, that organisational
survival is every organization's goal and that, to survive, an
organisation must place its own interests before those of others,
especially those which are potential competitors' (Hudock 1999:
20-21). This observation points to a problem present in most
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