Educating girls for development : A study of organizational legitimacy in donor-dependent NGOs in Tanzania

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study was to learn how donor-dependent NGOs in Tanzania, working with the issue of girls’ education, obtain and maintain legitimacy in the eyes of financial donors as well as in their local society. The investigation also aimed to explore which present and future organizational challenges they manage at the same time as they deal with the issue of legitimacy. A field study in Tanzania was conducted during ten weeks and three different NGOs concerned with legitimacy, were studied to see how they manage this issue and handle the demands from donors, government and society. Interviews and participant observation were made at each organization and a complementary study of SIDA and the National Ministry of Education was made in order to do a comparison of the situation and views. All organizations stressed the importance of well-working institutions in society, predictability in the financial support from the donors and most important: the societal support that leads to legitimacy. In order to gain legitimacy, the greatest need is transparency of the documents and records, keeping promises and being able to confirm the positive outcome of the work. The plan for future independence was not well developed at any of the organizations, even though they were at different phases. The major concern with being a donor-dependent NGO in the developing world is to manage the relationship with the government at the same time as you are accountable to society and tackle demands from the donors. The greatest fear of all organizations was that the financial support would be terminated.