Sri Lankan governments have a history of contradictory forms of engagement with NGOs\nand foreign donors, on the one hand embracing opportunities to work with and coordinate\nNGO donations for development, and on the other discouraging and rejecting more localised\nNGO activities. Successive governments have welcomed NGO and foreign donor funds for\nlarge scale construction projects. At the same time, with the support of Sinhala nationalist\ngroups, governments have also portrayed NGOs and foreign donors as imperial agents. This\ncriticism has been used against NGOs involved in the promotion and protection of human\nrights, especially in the war affected areas. This inconsistent behaviour of governments\ntowards NGOs and foreign donors reflects opportunistic politics. Some NGOs and foreign\ndonor agencies have successfully managed to navigate these contradictory government\npositions. Based on research in the southern and eastern provinces in Sri Lanka, this paper\nanalyses effective NGO engagement at the local level during the post-tsunami and post-war\nsituations. It focuses on those NGOs that have maintained government backing while also\npositively supporting local governance, community development and human rights.
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