Alternative models of information provision with special reference to the International Research and Information Group and the Education Resource and Information Project

Abstract

This study examines the contribution made by two alternative service or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to the provision and delivery of information in South Africa. A brief analysis of the role of information in impacting on and/or reproducing social formations is undertaken to provide an understanding of the way in which information has been used in the South African context to repress transformation of the apartheid state. This discussion frames an investigation into ways in which NGOs have attempted to counter information control on the part of the apartheid regime by mediating information to their constituencies. The relationship between information, education and development is addressed, providing insight into the educational role which service organisations play in delivering an information service on the one hand, the information role they perform in providing an education service on the other, and the developmental role they assume in both instances. Particular attention is paid to the way in which these services relate to their users in the process of imparting information to them. In this regard the interface between NGOs and their users is investigated and the very nature of this interaction assessed.