Editing Non-governmental organization (section)

===Negative outcomes===
[[Tanzania]]n author and academic [[Issa G. Shivji]] has criticised NGOs in two essays: "Silences in NGO discourse: The role and future of NGOs in Africa" and "Reflections on NGOs in Tanzania: What we are, what we are not and what we ought to be". Shivji writes that despite the good intentions of NGO leaders and activists, he is critical of the "objective effects of actions, regardless of their intentions".<ref>{{cite book |last=Shivji |first=Issa G. |title=Silence in NGO discourse: the role and future of NGOs in Africa |year=2007 |publisher=Fahamu |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-9545637-5-2 |page=84}}</ref> According to Shivji, the rise of NGOs is part of a [[neoliberal]] paradigm and not motivated purely by altruism; NGOs want to change the world without understanding it, continuing an [[Imperialism|imperial]] relationship.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

In his study of NGO involvement in [[Mozambique]], James Pfeiffer addresses their negative effects on the country's health. According to Pfeiffer, NGOs in Mozambique have "fragmented the local health system, undermined local control of health programs, and contributed to growing local social inequality".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> They can be uncoordinated, creating parallel projects which divert health-service workers from their normal duties to instead serve the NGOs. This undermines local primary-healthcare efforts, and removes the government's ability to maintain agency over its health sector.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal | last1 = Pfeiffer | first1 = J | year = 2003 | title = International NGOs and primary health care in Mozambique: the need for a new model of collaboration | journal = Social Science & Medicine | volume = 56 | issue = 4| pages = 725–738 | doi=10.1016/s0277-9536(02)00068-0| pmid = 12560007 }}</ref> Pfeiffer suggested a collaborative model of the NGO and the DPS (the Mozambique Provincial Health Directorate); the NGO should be "formally held to standard and adherence within the host country", reduce "showcase" projects and unsustainable parallel programs.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

In her 1997 ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'' article, [[Jessica Mathews]] wrote: "For all their strengths, NGOs are special interests. The best of them ... often suffer from tunnel vision, judging every public act by how it affects their particular interest".<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/52644/jessica-t-mathews/power-shift |title=Power Shift |journal=Foreign Affairs |issue=January/February 1997 |date=January–February 1997 |author=Jessica T. Mathews |access-date=1 June 2012}}</ref> NGOs are unencumbered by policy trade-offs.<ref>Bond, M. (2000) "The Backlash against NGOs". ''[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]''.</ref>

According to [[Vijay Prashad]], since the 1970s "the World Bank, under [[Robert McNamara]], championed the NGO as an alternative to the state, leaving intact global and regional relations of power and production."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cpa.org.au/amrarch/40vp.html |title=Mother Teresa: A Communist View |access-date=24 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724153535/http://www.cpa.org.au/amrarch/40vp.html |archive-date=24 July 2008 }}, Vijay Prashad, ''Australian Marxist Review'', No. 40 August 1998</ref> 

They have been questioned as "too much of a good thing".<ref name = Werker>{{cite journal | last1 = Werker | first1 = Eric | last2 = Ahmed | first2 = Faisal Z. | year = 2008 | title = What Do Nongovernmental Organizations Do? |doi-access=free |s2cid-access=free | journal = Journal of Economic Perspectives | volume = 22 | issue = 2| pages = 73–92 | doi=10.1257/jep.22.2.73| s2cid = 154246603 }}</ref> Eric Werker and Faisal Ahmed made three critiques of NGOs in developing nations. Too many NGOs in a nation (particularly one ruled by a warlord) reduces an NGO's influence, since it can easily be replaced by another NGO. Resource allocation and outsourcing to local organizations in international-development projects incurs expenses for an NGO, lessening the resources and money available to the intended beneficiaries. NGO missions tend to be paternalistic, as well as expensive.<ref name = Werker/>

The [[tax-exempt]] status of NGOs can result in the unintended consequence of negative value for society.<ref name="o561">{{cite journal | last1=Gamble | first1=Edward N. | last2=Muñoz | first2=Pablo | title=When Tax-Exempt Nonprofits Detract Value from Society | journal=Academy of Management Perspectives | volume=36 | issue=1 | date=2022 | issn=1558-9080 | doi=10.5465/amp.2018.0027 | doi-access=free | pages=50–92 | url=https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/preview/1239986/36272.pdf | access-date=5 February 2025}}</ref>