The Role of NGOs in Promoting Empowerment for Sustainable Community Development

This paper describes the contribution of NGOs towards community development and empowerment.

The paper reviews NGO roles, functions, and programs, such as microfinance, capacity building, and self-reliance. It states that NGOs:

• Develop community capacities through capacity building;
• Improve communities ability, skill, and knowledge to mobilize resources;
• Help the community to plan and evaluate projects;
• Help communities solve problems and gain mastery over their lives;
• Motivate communities to participate in projects that help them improve the quality of their lives;
• Encourage program participants to coordinate meetings, plan community activities, and be practical in community initiatives;
• Mobilize communities to be self-reliant;
• Assist communities to discover their own potential and rely on their own resources;
• Help community members to access jobs, improve their incomes and economic situations through microfinance.

The paper demonstrates that NGO programs and functions contribute towards the realization of sustainable community development.