This Working Paper is the first (preliminary) outcome of a major ODI research project evaluating the effectiveness of projects of non-government organisations (NGOs) in raising the economic status of the poor in four countries: Bangladesh, India, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It attempts to provide a framework for detailed evaluations of some 16 different projects funded, and some cases run, by British NGOs in these four countries.

The paper focuses exclusively within the context of that part of NGO work directed at alleviating poverty and promoting development through intervention within developing countries, and characterised, typically, by financial and technical support for socio-economic projects and programmes. Its purpose is to attempt to judge the extent to which NGO efforts in this sphere of activity are successful in helping to alleviate poverty.