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The NGOs have, since the mid 1990s, been involved in an institutionalized way in various social policies in developing countries. Their formal integration in public housing policies in Ecuador and Venezuela is an example. This cooperation with the tertiary sector is actively encouraged by the large international institutions, in the framework of the doctrine of good governance. The watchwords of this ethos are: privatization, decentralization and participation of civil society. Behind the argument for overcoming the crisis of governability that the Latin-American States are currently going through, while deepening democracy and equity, powerful interests hide that seek to perpetuate the existing system, using the NGOs as agents to regulate these. This article seeks to elucidate the mechanisms that lead to the instrumentalization of this category of actor by examining these organizations’ role in Ecuador and Venezuela.