The Contribution Of Non-Governmental Organizations In The Development Of Educational Infrastructure Of Public Secondary Schools In Dodoma City Council

ABSTRACT

The study examined the contribution of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the development of educational infrastructure of public secondary schools in Dodoma City Council. Specifically, the aims of this study included: identifying the areas of intervention and dominant strategies employed by NGOs in developing educational infrastructures in Dodoma City Council; analyzing the level of contribution of NGOs in educational infrastructure development of Dodoma City Council‟s public secondary schools; and lastly, assessing the challenges faced by NGOs in their efforts of developing educational infrastructures of Dodoma City Council‟s public secondary schools. While the state is the „first sector‟ and the market the „second‟, NGOs are considered as the „third sector‟ tasked with correcting the inequalities brought by the first two sectors as underpinned by the neoliberal theory. Methodologically, the study employed both primary and secondary tools of data collection on a sample size of 80 respondents who were purposively and randomly selected. Analytically, quantitative data were coded and analyzed through the Social Science Statistical Package (SPSS) Version 20 while qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis which presented data into meaningful themes that corresponded to the research objectives. The findings of the study revealed that NGOs mostly concentrated on improving the number of student desks and latrine holes of public secondary schools in Dodoma city council. The strategies used by NGOs included donations of desks and financing the construction of the latrine holes. However, the results indicated that NGOs are still faced by challenges such as deficiency of funds given that the NGOs under study were local NGOs. The challenges facing NGOs hinder the potential of NGOs when it comes to the enhancement of educational infrastructure in public secondary schools were shortage of funds, limited capability, political context, INGO dominancy and distorted NGO identity. Considering the contributions of NGOs to the educational infrastructure improvement and challenges hindering their efforts, the study suggested that NGOs ought to diversify their sources of funds to Local Resource Mobilization to provide potential for NGOs to raise funds from local businesses, individuals, government, and locally generated income to reduce their dependence on international donor support.