HMN 2025: How NGOs can serve communities better by listening more

A new study has shed light on how international charities and non-governmental organizations can better serve some of the most marginalized people in the world—by learning to truly listen to them.

Dr. Sofia Yasmin from The University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School and Professor Chaudhry Ghafran from Durham University looked at how a major international NGO delivered a clean water and sanitation project in two of Pakistan’s poorest urban communities—one Christian, and one Muslim.

The team spent time on the ground, talking with local residents, community leaders and NGO staff. Their aim was to understand how accountability—the idea that organizations should answer to the people they serve—works in practice in places where poverty, religion, gender and social class all intersect.

“What we found was that even within poor communities, people don’t experience aid in the same way,” said Dr. Yasmin. “A Christian minority neighborhood, for example, faced a deeper level of exclusion and was grateful simply to be seen, while another Muslim community—though still poor—felt able to challenge and question the project. These differences really matter if we want development to be fair and inclusive.”

The study, published in the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, revealed that while NGOs often talk about “community participation,” decision-making can remain tightly controlled by donors and distant managers. Projects are frequently governed by strict budgets and performance targets, leaving little room for flexibility or for local people to shape outcomes.

Yet the study also uncovered moments of hope. In one community, trust between residents and NGO workers grew not through slogans or workshops, but through the visible arrival of clean water systems and working infrastructure. “People believed what they could see,” said Dr. Yasmin. “Trust was built when promises turned into pipes.”

The paper introduces the idea of “fluid responsiveness”—a call for NGOs to treat accountability not as a tick-box exercise, but as a living, evolving relationship with the communities they serve.

Dr. Yasmin hopes the findings will encourage international charities, donors and governments to rethink how they design and monitor conservation projects. “If we want sustainable development,” she said, “we have to stop speaking for people and start listening to them—especially those who are most often ignored.”

The content is provided for information purposes only.