Abstract
Despite various weaknesses, joint forest management (JFM) has become a dominant forest management mechanism in India during last two decades, and has spread across the country. Although a sizeable literature exists on JFM, little attention has been paid to understanding the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in strengthening JFM as an institution for common-pool resource (CPR) management. Based on a comparative analysis of four JFM committees from Rajasthan, two of which were supported by an NGO and the other two by the government's Forest Department, this thesis highlights the critical role that NGOs can play in making JFM successful. The thesis provides an in-depth analysis of several institutional aspects of these committees, and discusses the factors that enabled the NGO-supported institutions to perform better than the other ones. Finally, it argues for an effective integration of NGOs in JFM implementation, and makes policy recommendations for JFM to be more sustainable.