The Gap between Expectations and Reality: The Performance of Local Non-Governmental Organizations in the Education Sector of Honduras

Abstract

Local Non-Governmental Organisations (LNGOs, also called domestic NGOs), are promoted as service providers and policy advocates within the education development sector. They are seen as key local actors who are well-placed to improve access to and quality education in the developing world. National experts, government officers, donors, and contemporary writers on development, claim that local NGOs report outstanding achievements in education advocacy and provision. Their strong performance is attributed to adopting managerial controls, the support of International NGOs (INGOs), and access to foreign aid. However, a closer look at the literature reveals several gaps and shortcomings when evaluating the performance of local NGOs, which this study seeks to avoid. Many studies of LNGOs confuse INGOs, donor country-based NGOs, and LNGOs, despite the notable differences that exist in their structure, size, the scale of operations, the extent of funding, legal status, and relations with donors and the state. Analyses of their performance only provide partial explanations, as these studies evaluate project results separate from the structure of the organisations. It is rare that both results and structure are addressed simultaneously. There is also a tendency to emphasise management as a crucial factor in performance, rather than examining the broader spectrum of factors affecting performance. Also, some of these studies are based on experts' opinions that disregard beneficiaries' experience and other firsthand informants. This research applies a comparative case study methodology to eight Honduras NGOs and their flagship programs in the education sector using data gathered from 46 informants and program reports for the five years from 2011-2015. The thesis demonstrates that these organisations were cost-effective in terms of general performance and helped close education gaps, mainly by providing schooling services to one out of ten students enrolled in pre- and secondary schools. The latter was a significant contribution from these organizations. During this period, gross enrolment rates in both pre- and secondary schools were low, with only 6 out of 10 children having access to preschool and 3 out of 10 to secondary school. Half of the cases analysed made significant contributions to reaching national education targets and goals to which they were aligned while displaying remarkable performance in policymaking. However, there were limited contributions to improving education quality [primarily defined in this thesis as learning outcomes], and additional efforts are required to ensure empirically identifiable changes. Adopting managerial controls or being supported by INGOs and foreign aid did not make any difference to Honduran LNGOs' performance in education. This research has found that high performing organisations shared several factors including long-lasting collaborations with the state (technical, financial and/or political support) and working experience with donors (when applicable); association with professional networks and think tanks; willingness to learn from independent assessments; and access to alternative funding sources (particularly private funding and sales of services). Other findings pointed out that Higher levels of community participation help to explain the cost-effectiveness of LNGOs' programs. This is a performance-enhancing aspect of the LNGO sector which allows them to do comparatively better than the national government.