NGOs are normally suited to interfacing with the community.15 In service delivery projects where the private sector becomes involved in low-income areas, skilled community workers must carry out interactions with the community. The private sector is often heavy-handed in this regard, and while some municipalities have built this capacity through recent experiences with community participation, the NGO sector may still be best placed to take on this role. NGOs can particularly assist in forming a bridge at the early stage by building trust and confidence. Locally established NGOs are often the entry point for communities and can facilitate the process while all the parties become familiar with one another. In some partnerships this role is extended and the NGO becomes the regular conduit for all discussions with communities. Participatory information collection is a key starting point. While this may result in consistency and increased trust between other partnership members, this can place the NGO in an impossible position - especially when it is the bearer of bad tidings or fundamentally disagrees with the message it must impart. For example, in the South African BoTT project, Mvula Trust was opposed to the introduction of pre-paid meters for poor communities, but was contractually obliged to discuss proposals with the community.