Most of us have quite a good understanding of what we mean by the public and private sectors. We generally however have a far weaker understanding of what many refer to as Civil Society. This article starts to unpack, in a limited way, what is meant by Civil Society, and its role in development, and highlights the importance of having a functionally diverse civil society. For a few people Civil Society is lumped within the private sector, implying everything that is not the government sector. However, for most people, civil society is seen as a third sector - it is neither the government sector nor the private sector. The following list starts to give some idea of the range of organisations that are covered by this third sector; with what appears to be some form of competition to come up with the most unique acronym.

The Third Sector Zoo - Acronyms and Civil Society Types

BINGO - Business Friendly NGO CBO - Community Based Organisation CF - Community Foundations CG - Civic Groups CO - Charity Organisation CONGO - Co - opted NGO Coop - Co - operative CSO - Civil Society Organisation DONGO - Donor Organised NGO ENGO - Environmental NGO FBO - Faith Based Organisations FLAMINGO - Flashy Minded NGO (used in jest - representing the rich) GO - Grassroots Organisation GONGO - Government Operated NGO GRINGO - Government Regulated and Initiated NGO INGO - International NGO MANGO - Market Advocacy NGO

NGDO - Non Government Development Organisation NGO - Non Government Organisation NPO - Non Profit Organisation NSA - Non State Actors PANGO - Party Affiliated NGO PBO - Public Benefit Organisation PP - Political Party PVO - Private Voluntary Organisation QUANGO - Quasi Autonomous NGO SHO - Self Help Organisations SM - Social Movements TANGO - Technical Assistance NGO TU - Trade Unions VA - Voluntary Associations VBO - Value Based Organisation VO - Voluntary Organisation

Building on information sourced from Wikipedia - NGO and civil society

There has been and is some confusion as to what exactly is the role and purpose of this third sector. Equally, there have been many attempts to make sense of this third sector in terms of how it relates to and is different from the other two sectors.

For example, many have defined the sector by what it is not, using terms like Non Government Organisations or Not for Profit Organisations. Others have tried to define third sector organisations by what they stand for: hence terms like Public Benefit Organisations, Community Based Organisations, and Value Based Organisations. One way to start to make sense of this sector, in relation to the other two sectors, is to look at who the sector is accountable to.

The public sector is accountable to the electorate that voted for their representatives. Decisions made are based on satisfying the voters and being re-elected in the next elections. Officials within the public sector carry out the work under instruction of the elected leaders.

The private sector is accountable to the owners or shareholders of the private sector companies. Decision making is based on making sure the organisation makes money to keep itself alive and its shareholders satisfied. The overriding objective of private sector organisations is to make a profit for the owners of these organisations. Some private sector organisations try to bring in other elements like corporate social responsibility programmes, but at the end of the day, private sector organisations are all about economic survival and making money.

For the third sector, it gets a bit more complicated in terms of who the organisations are accountable to - but it can be done. Different types of third sector organisations are accountable to different structures.

For example:

• Professional bodies are accountable to their members;    
• Community Based Organisations are accountable to the communities they serve (this could be a broadly defined as a spatial community of people living in a neighbourhood or a community of people interested in a certain thing like sports or global poverty, etc); and
• Value Based Organisations are accountable to the values that define the organisation as interpreted by the organisations board of directors.

It is not easy to neatly differentiate between the third sector and the  private and public sectors. One reason for this is that the third sector is very diverse in the type of organisations it includes. This variety should not be seen as a problem for the third sector but should rather be seen as one of its advantages.

This diversity is what gives the third sector its strength. Let us look at the example of natural ecosystems versus socio-economic systems.

Natural ecosystems, with high levels of diversity, are able to adjust to changing circumstances and disruptions like fires and droughts, as different elements of the ecosystem are able to perform various roles within the system. When one element within the system struggles to perform its role others are able to step in and help.

In the same way, socio-economic systems also benefit from having a diverse third sector, as different organisations within the third sector are able to perform various roles in a changing environment. So, if one type of third sector organisation (e.g. and NGO or a VA) struggles to perform its role (e.g. build capacity of CBO’s, conduct independent socio-economic research, or monitor the performance of the government and private sector), for whatever reason (e.g. The withdrawal of international donor funding, changes in government legislation governing tax structures, etc.) then other types of civil society organisations are able to step in and fill the gap. This stabilisation role of the third sector is very important in the context of high uncertainty that shapes local, national and global development.