Community Organizations in Latin America

This book describes the interaction between community organizations (OPCs, or organizaciones de participación comunitaria), the local communities, and the public sector in Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Chile. The case studies included in this book evaluate the activity of OPCs in each of the three countries and compare their performance with that of the public sector organizations responsible for providing social services. The conclusions show that, despite their smaller size, OPCs are generally more cost-effective than their corresponding state agencies because of the efficiency of their support apparatuses.