Voluntary action and development Towards a Praxis for Non-Government Agencies

Voluntary action represents an alternative principle of social organisation, outside the massive bureaucratisation and centralisation of our society. The present crisis in the development process too, has brought a search for alternatives outside the mainstream. The participatory research approach attempts a collaborative and committed search for understanding and action with the subjects of the study themselves.

Clearly there is a strong affinity between voluntary action, alternative development and participatory research. All three reverse the conventional top down approaches in their respective spheres for a bottom-up one.

The intensive case study here is planned in lieu of this. The particular policy recommendations and more generalised conclusions are meant demonstrate the critical contribution voluntary organisations can make towards development. Though macro-level problems are beyond their resources, with the proper linkages and networks, their micro-level contribution is crucial in creating role expectations which question the status quo, in producing institutional models which are replicable elsewhere.