The Implicit Bureaucrats: NGOs and Policy Implementation in India

This study shows that regional staff of NGOs partnering with states tend to perform key policy implementation tasks, despite lacking formal bureaucratic authority. It illustrates the strategic approaches that these actors use to seek reform buy-in and drive policy compliance.

Under review

Abstract

Constraints in the state’s capacity and resources have paved the way for non-government organizations (NGOs) to be increasingly involved in governance and service delivery in low- and middle-income countries. While studies have extensively examined the effect of NGO collaborations on development outcomes, bureaucratic capacity, and state effectiveness, less understood is their role in co-implementing policies. This paper examines the everyday work of grassroots workers (GWs) of an NGO partnering with a state government in India to implement an education reform. 

Drawing on a collective case study of three districts and qualitative data collected between 2023 and 2025 – including interviews and field observations – the study shows that NGO GWs perform core bureaucratic functions despite lacking formal authority. The paper identifies three approaches through which they facilitate implementation: authoritative enforcement, entrepreneurial persuasion, and strategic depoliticization, deployed according to tasks and actors. By foregrounding the work of NGOs as political labor, the paper broadens existing notions of implementation, authority, accountability, and institutional norms in light of increased hybrid governance systems around the world.