Read: civil society 1: A list of possible NGO contributions, deduced from practise and literature.

• operational work  (service delivery) for specific consumer or clients groups, often performed by CBO's (community based organisations), that should be regularly performed or taken over by GO's (education, health care, tackling poverty, environmental care etc.).
  Characteristics: the goal of the work, service delivery, is not politically controversial. This type of work gradually becomes merged with the next type:
• operational work (service delivery) for specific consumer or clients groups, rather new work in terms of target groups or service that on the long term should be added to the area of regular GO tasks (secret shelter for battered women, work for refugees, income generating projects).
  Characteristics: the work is not yet and not everywhere considered to be part of the mainstream, is sometimes politically controversial
• organised self-help groups, exchange of experiences and mutual assistance of people with comparable problems (women groups, patient groups).
  Characteristics: the help is directed inward, aiming at relief of the members.
• work of pressure groups, aiming to improve the interests of their grassroots (trade unions, patient organisations)
  Characteristics: the goal is often a combination of issues directly related to self interest and issues that cover a more general political domain like participation.
• advocacy work, aiming to change the policy of the government on certain issues (organisations within the anti war movement or peace movement, human rights movement, anti child labour groups, political feminist groups etc.)
  Characteristics: the political character of the issue, the action aspects of the work, the connection with people's movement and the opponent role of the NGO.
  This type of work does not essentially differ from the next type:
• advocacy work, aiming to change industries or firms on certain issues (environmental groups, fair trading groups, caring company groups)
  Characteristics: the political character of the issue, the action aspects of the work, the connection with social movements and the opponent role of the NGO.
• mobilising work aiming to change the knowledge or attitudes of the citizens (awareness raising work related to attitudes towards ethnic differences, towards gay people, towards a non-democratic government or towards environmental issues)
  Characteristics: the political character of the issue, the action aspects of the work and the opponent role of the NGO.
• political work, directly aimed to change the political system towards more democracy, to mobilise people and to develop  the civil society (political organisations outside the political parties)
  Characteristics:  the political character of the issue, the action aspects of the work and the opponent role of the NGO.