In development circles, Non-governmental Organizations play a major role in addressing the problems of society. These are basically non-profit making organizations working to change people's lives for the better. Some scholars have said that NGOs exist to fill the vacuum left the government and the Private Sector.
According to those who belong to this school of thought, essentially, government is most often than not unable to solve all the problems facing the people. This is because there never is enough resources to do all the things that must be done. For this reason, prioritization often leaves a lot unattended to, leaving a vacuum. Private organizations also then attempt to attend to the issues left by the government and by so doing, make profit out of the solutions they provide. But due to limited capacity and because not every problem necessarily presents a viable business case, private business people do not cover all the issues left by the government. In come Non-Governmental Organizations which seek to solve the problems without making profit for themselves.
Indeed, the operations of NGOs give credence to the explanation given by this theory. Scanning through the mission and vision statements of most NGOs in Ghana and beyond, there is no denying the focus on solving problems. If it is not about curbing teenage pregnancy, it is about eradicating poverty or preventing children from dropping out of school or addressing stigma against people with disability or solving conflicts in communities and so on.
In fact, it is safe to say that most NGOs would not have existed were there no problems in society and indeed, some do fold up when the problems they are set up to address are finally solved. Problems are even crucial to how NGOs raise money. Because they do not make profit, NGOs get funding for their projects mostly through donations. In most cases, applications for donor funding will have to be justified by clearly stating the problem the particular project for which funding is being sought will solve when implemented.
To be sure, the existence and operations of NGOs make a significant impact on the development of the world especially the rural parts of it. Without them, some people would find difficulty surviving. They are everywhere for everything; be it emergency relief for disaster victims or skills training for rural uneducated people, they are always there to lend a supporting hand.
But NGOs should not only be known for solving problems. They should be innovators as well. To innovate is to produce something that never existed. In other words, innovation is using imagination to create useful things. For instance, introducing a new form of education different from the current educational system will be an innovation.
Some NGOs do a lot of innovative work but this is not a widespread phenomenon. It can be argued that, even when people create new things (innovate), it will still be for solving some particular problem. But no. This is not necessarily so. There are ideas which are not geared toward solving a specific problem but are very transformational. If these ideas become the new line of thinking of their owners and managers and the new basis for project designs, NGOs will gradually come to be known for something else other than just problem solvers.
But will they get funding, especially if donors are interested only in seeing their money solve problems. Well, then they will have to create new ways of raising funds. That in itself will be innovation.
