Child Health and NGOs in Peruvian Provinces

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are widely accepted in developing countries as a crucial organizational asset. They combine entrepreneurship, provision of quasi-government services and donor financing, but their conceptual status is unclear. Are they the organizational embodiments of social capital, generating cohesion and superior performance, or do they expand the competitiveness of the province, contributing to superior performance via political pluralism? This analysis of the relationship of NGOs to three criteria of child health in the provinces of Peru examines that question and concludes that NGOs are best interpreted as actors in provinces that foster political contestation. As such they contribute to the growth of a core dimension of democracy in developing countries and to higher levels of health.