Summarizes a study based on an examination of 30 highly rated nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in a dozen Latin American and Caribbean countries. Explains the terms "grassroots support organizations" (GSOs) and "membership support organizations" (MSOs). Suggests operation strategies for these organizations, particularly…

A study examined how government agencies, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and community organizations in Latin America cooperate in development activities. A model outlines each sector's functions in service delivery, human resource development and training, resource mobilization, research, and public education; the stages of…

Describes the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the political arena, as well as in development and public welfare roles. Traces the recent history of grassroots efforts to solve social problems in Latin America. NGOs can strengthen institution building and influence national policymaking. (KS)

A partnership of nongovernmental organizations developed a model of integrated community development centers (CDICs) to address the lack of services and affordable basic necessities in poor barrios surrounding many Latin American cities. A CDIC in a Guayaquil (Ecuador) barrio provides wholesale goods and credit to barrio shopkeepers and…

Amid the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil was the Global Forum, a gathering of representatives of more than 9,000 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Brazil's array of NGOs and grass-roots support organizations began developing in the early 1960s. The "pedagogy of the oppressed" developed by Paulo…

Participation, empowerment, and sustainability are basic tenets of community development work of the Inter-American Foundation, but these are difficult to measure. The Grassroots Development Framework breaks these concepts into concrete, measurable components to evaluate sustainability over time and short-term cost/efficiency results of community…

When funding youth programs in developing countries, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should consider programs that recognize both the developmental needs of children and socioeconomic factors, that serve youth directly or work indirectly through family and community, and that have proven strategies for stretching limited funding.…

Since 1986, the Centro de Multiservicios Educativos (multiservice educational center) in urban La Paz (Bolivia) has increased educational opportunities of low-income students attending public schools. The center offers a variety of services including vocational programs, legal assistance, health programs, counseling programs, science labs, and…

The Citizens' Campaign Against Hunger and Poverty and For Life is a nongovernmental organization in Brazil that recruited and organized more than three million volunteers to distribute food baskets, support gardening and water projects, provide basic health care, create jobs, assist homeless children, and encourage local and state governments to…

Central America's macroeconomics, land tenure patterns, and population growth are forcing small-scale farmers to alternatives based on farmer-to-farmer teaching and farming in concert with the environment. Discusses major schools of thought that have fueled this phenomenon, and how extension services and isolated groups are joining to form a…

For 25 years, the Trinidad and Tobago nongovernmental organization Servol has bridged differences of class and ideology to forge private and public partnerships that build up the nation by investing in youth given up for lost. Servol has expanded the culture of philanthropy, promoted corporate support of trade schools and apprenticeship programs,…

The Fundacion Social, a grassroots organization in Colombia, uses profits from its 14 companies to fund community self-help initiatives aimed at eliminating poverty. Social programs focus on community integration, microbusinesses, recycling, education, and communication. The organization seeks to eliminate structural poverty and is currently…

Although child mortality rates have significantly improved in recent decades, most children in Latin America and the Caribbean are still living in poverty and are poorly educated. Investing in education has beneficial effects on birth rates, health, income equality, and the environment. Includes tables describing economic, educational, and infant…

Overviews the history of Service Volunteered for All (Servol), an organization founded in 1970 in Trinidad and Tobago by Gerard Pantin, a Catholic priest. The organization has evolved into 2 national networks of 150 preschools, 40 life centers for teenage boys and girls, training programs for preschool teachers, and community programs aimed at…