This Working Paper reports on four case study evaluations of NGO interventions in south India. It illustrates different NGO approaches to rural poverty alleviation within a broader community development orientation.

The paper forms part of a substantial ODI research project which sets out to assess the impact of NGOs in poverty alleviating projects in different geographical and institutional settings. It follows the publication in 1990 of Working Paper No.37, 'Judging Success: Evaluating NGO Approaches to Alleviating Poverty in Developing Countries' by Roger Riddell, and is one of four similar country studies. The other three, also to be published contemporaneously with this paper, are studies of Bangladesh, Uganda and Zimbabwe.