Dissenting Voices: The Case of the National Coalition for Independent Action

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the dissenters who did not join the ‘product champions’ described in Chapter 8 but expressed concern and outright opposition to the trends dominating the recent history of voluntary action — and especially what was seen as the encroachment by the state on the independence historically enjoyed by voluntary organisations. It begins by discussing the initiatives taken by the Baring Foundation in developing its Strengthening the Voluntary Sector Programme and setting up an independent panel to monitor the state of sector independence. The main body of the chapter, however, focuses on the most active and least compromising of the critics of current trends — the NCIA — and reviews its foundation and development as an organisation; its assessment of the situation in which the voluntary sector found itself; and some of the activities it undertook to address the issues and problems identified by this analysis. This part of the chapter is based on the NCIA’s internal documents. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of the NCIA’s analysis and experience for the theory and practice of voluntary action.