Non-Governmental Organisations and poverty Alleviation in Uganda: A case Study of Kisoro District.
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Date
2015
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Kabale University
Abstract
Non-Governmental Organisations are important agents for poverty alleviation. For sustainable poverty alleviation to be reached, effective performance of NGOs in relation to poverty alleviation is necessary. Despite the efforts put in by NGOs to alleviate poverty, its level is still high in Kisoro District. This study investigated the contribution of Non-Governmental Organizations on poverty alleviation in Kisoro District. The objectives were; to explore the activities performed by Non-governmental Organisations on poverty alleviation in Kisoro District; to investigate the challenges faced by Non-governmental Organisations in poverty alleviation and to analyse the strategies to improve NGOs activities in poverty alleviation in Kisoro District. The NGOs involved were Compassion International, Gorilla Organisation and Mgahinga Community Development Organisation and the respondents were the beneficiaries and Kisoro District leaders and the NGOs’ officials. The study espoused a case study design and covered 80 respondents to gather qualitative and quantitative data. It used questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, observations and documentary reviews for data collection. The study found that the activities of Compassion International, Mgahinga Community Development Organisation and Gorilla Organisation in the district which include education and health support, and distribution of hybrid seeds and livestock were important in poverty alleviation. However, the NGOs were overwhelmed by dependence on foreign support and its negative consequences. Furthermore, the study found out that shortage of land, high illiteracy level in the district, inadequate finance, poor project selection, infertile soils due to poor conservation, poor infrastructure and poor accountability are some of the challenges faced by the NGOs in poverty alleviation. The study recommended that NGOs should engage themselves with the communities in order to know their needs and not deciding for them. Of great importance, NGOs needed to carry out needs assessment properly as it is it would help them analyse the core problems of the communities.
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Keywords
Non-Governmental Organisations, Poverty Alleviation