NGOs and the Millennium Development Goals Citizen Action to Reduce Poverty

This book examines the role of NGOs in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the fight to end global poverty more generally. The MDGs arguably represent the greatest opportunity and challenge for alleviating poverty and improving quality of life globally in our time. Their achievement will require maximizing all available resources and capitalizing on all available actors. NGOs have been highlighted by governments and global leaders as an important actor, but without better understanding of their potential, roles, and challenges to their effectiveness, we are not likely to fully tap their contribution and thus will be further challenged in achieving the MDGs. This book presents and examines general NGO roles and comparative advantages, as well as roles and opportunities specific to particular MDG sectors.

Jennifer Brinkerhoff is Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs at George Washington University (GWU). She holds a Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Southern California, and is the author of Partnership for International Development: Rhetoric or Results? and co-author of Working for Change: Making a Career in International Public Service.  She is the winner of the Independent Sector’s 2002 Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Prize for her work on government-nonprofit relations in comparative perspective and has worked in Africa, China, Mongolia, Central Asia, and Russia.
 
Stephen C. Smith is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at GWU. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University and has been a Fulbright Research Scholar and a Jean Monnet Research Fellow. Smith is the author of Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works (2005) and co-author with Michael Todaro of Economic Development (2006). Smith served as first director of GWU’s International Development Studies Program. He has done on-site research and program work in developing countries on four continents including Bangladesh, China, Ecuador, India, Peru, Uganda, and Former Yugoslavia. 
 
Hildy Teegen is Professor of International Business and International Affairs at GWU where she directs the Center for International Business Education and Research. She received her Ph.D. in International Business from the University of Texas at Austin. Her articles include "The Importance of NGOs in Global Governance and Value Creation," in the Journal of International Business Studies (2005), and "Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Ways for MNCs to Effectively Interface with NGOs," in Multinational Corporations and Global Poverty Reduction (2005). She is also co-editor of Globalization and NGOs:  Transforming Business, Governments and Society  (2003) and co-author of two books on economic sanctions, U.S. Economic Sanctions: Philosophy and Efficacy (2001) and Case Studies of U.S. Economic Sanctions: The Chinese, Cuban and Iranian Experience (2003).