JBS Vol 08. Num 1. 2006 - TRANSPARENCY STATUS OF THE NGOS IN BANGLADESH

The paper addresses the role of the NGOs in capacity building of the rural poor by providing institutional credit; it also examines their transparency status in Bangladesh. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 96 randomly selected beneficiaries of two NGOs by using both structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The findings suggest that all the respondents benefited from the credit programs when judged against the indicators of institutional performance. About one-fourth of the respondents used local arbitration (or shalish) to resolve local problems, a slightly higher percentage made demands on government resources, around 39 percent took action against human rights abuses in society, while about 11 percent protested dowry demands. About 15 percent resolved divorce attempts and about 9 percent received legal aid from the NGOs. Most NGO members used institutional sources for borrowing money. Regarding transparency and accountability, both the NGOs were very weak. In order to be more effective NGOs should strengthen the programs relating to institution building and maintain upward and downward transparency.