During the past two decades, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) working in development have increased their profiles at
local, national and international levels. NGOs have come to be
recognized as important actors on the landscape of development,
from the reconstruction efforts in Indonesia, India, Thailand and Sri
Lanka after the 2004 tsunami disaster, to international campaigns
for aid and trade reform such as ‘Make Poverty History’. NGOs
tend to be best known for undertaking one or other of these two
main forms of activity: the delivery of basic services to people in
need, and organizing policy advocacy and public campaigns for
change. At the same time, NGOs have also become active in a wide
range of other more specialized roles such as emergency response,
democracy building, conflict resolution, human rights work, cultural
preservation, environmental activism, policy analysis, research and
information provision.