This paper argues that the self help or mutual aid association is an ideal partner for small scale development agencies. Indeed this African institution is the quintessential Non Government Organisation (NGO). It is embedded in the social fabric of the every day life of the poor. The self help voluntary association is the ordinary African's own response to the stresses and difficulties they face, part and parcel of their repertoire of coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies. This paper discusses the selfhelp voluntary association in the context of the Ethiopian situation, but this institution exists throughout the continent and much of what is discussed applies equally to self help associations that exist outside Ethiopia. The paper begins with a brief review of the literature concerning self help voluntary associations and then goes on to describe the evolution, adaptation, function androleofthis institution inEthiopia. In the second partof the paper some suggestions are made about the potential of the institution as a developmental agent or partner. Both International and Indigenous NGOs have, unfortunately, been unwilling or unable to find ways in which to model themselves on, or find mechanisms to assist, self help voluntary associations.
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