Charity, Politics and the Third World

Charities which pursue causes in poor countries have existed for many years. Their involvement in famine relief in recent years has given them a high public profile and has served to confirm what was already a growing sense of their importance as development agencies. "Charity, Politics and the Third World" primarily addresses readers without inside experience of Third World charity. It sets out to introduce the principal features of Britains's Third World charities and their activities. Particular attention is paid to the diversity within the sector and to the relations between individual organizations. Prominence is given to the ways in which the charities' pursuit of their objectives interacts with political features of their environment, both at home and abroad. The book concludes by arguing that charities are now facing exaggerated and increasingly disparate demands on their performance, and that these demands will not be satisfied easily. The challenge of the 1990s is how to fulfil the expectations which have been raised by the reputation which these voluntary agencies have acquired in the past.