This chapter introduces a self-development theory of the nonprofit sector, informed by alternative development and basic-needs theory. The theory presented in this chapter suggests that nonprofit law plays a role in creating a legal framework that allows people to participate in the improvement of their own lives and communities through self-development. With a nonprofit-friendly legal environment in place, individuals have greater economic incentive to work within their own communities to create organizations that help individuals, families, and communities to meet their own needs. This paradigm stands in contrast to views of nonprofit organizations as facilitators of rescuing behavior, in which one group of people seeks to uplift another. Based on cases in Nigeria and South Africa, this paper describes the role and importance of nonprofits in facilitating the development of individuals, institutions, and communities from within.

Development is sometimes referred to as the central organising principle of our time. So what can Green politics offer to the understanding and practice of international development? Greens have traditionally had a lot to say about key aspects of development, including peace and security, poverty and social exclusion, gender and, of course, sustainability in ways that reflect the involvement of peace, feminist and environmental movements in Green politics. The discourse and practice of ‘sustainable development’, in particular, is now omnipresent. Green politics should be playing a central role in debates about international development, but critical Green insights about the causes of poverty and destitution and how these relate to the organisation of the global economy, the role of aid, trade and multinational corporations, as well as around what inclusive, just and green solutions to these problems might look like, have often been overlooked. There is an urgent need to redress these oversights.