Globalization, global market integration, migration, and democratization have unleashed cross-national challenges and opportunities unimaginable a few decades ago. Transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are an increasingly important "organizational resource" for helping people manage these concerns focusing as they do on such global issues as poverty alleviation, refugee flows, human rights, fair trade, environmental degradation, and broadening the participation of underrepresented citizens (e.g., women, disabled). In tackling these problems, transnational NGOs have exhibited a clear ability to foster collaboration among the various actors involved in global governance, but they have also contributed at times to increasing the level of conflict, depending on their mission, style, and the strategies they have employed. While the growing role that transnational NGOs play in globalization and democratization has come under increasing study, the factors contributing to their organizational effectiveness-or relative ineffectiveness--remain under investigated. This project studies what transnational NGOs are-how they are organized and how governance and leadership choices influence their effectiveness as agents of change. The project will complete a large-scale, systematic interview study of the leadership of such organizations at both the regional and international levels. The focus is on creating indicators and baseline data for scholars and the NGO community to use in understanding how such organizations are evolving, the nature of their leadership, their funding strategies, how they perceive issues of transparency and accountability, the ways in which they evaluate their organizations' impacts, the challenges they experience in working along side governments and international organizations, and the effects that they believe governments and international organizations are having on the nature of their activities. Most interview studies to date have been limited in scope and have often chosen to focus on examining a particular case where transnational NGOs have played a significant role. Moreover, the research has generally taken a particular theoretical perspective and not explored, as is done here, the conjunction between the various ways of viewing how transnational NGOs work as well as the conditions under which they may be more or less effective. The responses from the interviews will be converted into a database--the first of its kind on transnational NGOs--that provides the basis on which future studies can build.
Broader Impact. This project furthers research, education, and practice regarding transnational NGOs. The project will develop a set of materials that can be used in building a curriculum for professional and doctoral students interested in transnational public management. Analyses of the indicators that are developed, the data base, and the transcripts of the interviews provide the basis for a set of training modules around such themes as impact assessment, building networks, engaging in transparency, and how to influence governments and international organizations. Data from the interviews will be compiled will be developed in a publicly available database, the first of its kind on transnational NGOs.
