Facilitators of development or Kapos for capital: the primrose path to GATS

This article arose from work undertaken on behalf of a UK-based NGO developing a policy response to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It looks at GATS as a key to locating development NGOs (NGDOs) within the broader field of development aims and practices, examining the long-term implications of GATS with respect to the idea of a ‘fourth position’ for such NGOs. It is argued that this theoretical position fails to take into account changing imbalances of power between NGDOs and their Southern counterparts that began under structural adjustment, as a consequence of which many NGDOs now occupy a position from which effective mediation between civil society, the state, and the market would be difficult if not impossible. In addition, GATS represents a step-change along the evolutionary path towards a market-oriented ideology whose verticalist worldview represents a profound contradiction to the avowedly progressive aims of most NGDOs.     

Gender-awareness and policies: theory and practice among small NGDOs

While in recent years, many nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs) have committed themselves to addressing gender inequality in their development work, little is known about the gender-related practices of small NGDOs with annual budgets of less than 1 million pounds. It is known, however, that larger NGDOs tend to have developed more gender-aware policies and practices than smaller ones. Findings are reported from an exploration of the gender-related awareness and practices of 13 small NGDOs, 8 based in the UK and 5 based in Cameroon. The study found that at the organizational level, all studied organizations were aware of the concept of gender and acknowledged its importance, but had a wide range of ideas of what gender actually means. Most organizations had not devised any specific way of incorporating gender into their programs because they had neither a specific person nor unit responsible for gender issues. Male NGDO employees were not really involved in gender issues. Policy- and project-level findings are presented, followed by consideration of the problems encountered by small NGDOs, the advantages of such organizations, how to ensure gender-aware practices, gender and development versus women in development approaches, and recommendations for good practice.     

Beyond NGDOs: Is Utopia still viable?

This article describes the need for non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) to examine and so enhance their role if they are to take an active part in the shaping of a structurally different society. It is argued that mainstream NGDOs belong to a broader alternative movement which is involved in the search for equitable and sustainable forms of social organisation. In understanding development as a process of empowerment, NGDOs are bound to encounter both internal and external resistance. However, to be effective and to have credibility, it is argued that Northern NGDOs must challenge inequality in their own societies, as well as internationally and through the work they support in developing countries.     

Coordinating post-disaster humanitarian response: lessons from the 2005 Kashmir earthquake,India

This article is based on a field study carried out in Indian-administered Kashmir after the 2005 earthquake. In this analysis of how non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) engage and coordinate with one another and with other disaster response agencies during post-disaster relief and rehabilitation operations, it can be concluded that NGDO coordination was ineffective. The research points out that, even though there is coordination among the international and national NGDOs, local NGDOs are seldom engaged in the overall coordination processes. The paper advocates developing coordination among the humanitarian agencies as a pre-disaster initiative for a more effective collaborative humanitarian disaster response.     

Toward purposeful individual capacity strengthening: alternative considerations for Western NGOs

The international donor community continues to emphasise country-led development strategies designed to equitably engage public and civil society agents in managing development assistance. Similarly donors who fund Western NGOs to implement development programmes on their behalf in recipient countries are increasingly pushing for cost-effective programme implementation that actively engages local actors. This article proposes an alternative theoretically grounded model for individual capacity strengthening to responsive and mission-driven Western NGOs that claim to be committed to ideals of capacity strengthening and indigenisation of programme leadership.     

From ‘Christians doing development’ to ‘doing Christian development’: the changing role of religion in the international work of Tearfund

This article seeks to bring more nuance to recent discussions about the role of faith in religious development NGOs. It takes an in-depth look at Tearfund, a leading Evangelical development NGO, and explores the ways in which faith shapes its conceptualisation of development, its programme design, and its implementation strategy. The article traces the process through which Tearfund actively sought to bring faith into the centre of its development work, and argues that grappling with faith in this way can lead religious development NGOs to innovate new approaches to development that are at least somewhat outside of mainstream development thinking.     

Language,NGOs and inclusion: the donor perspective

Listening to communities is valued by UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) for contributing to “beneficiary” empowerment and programme efficiency. This article is based on interviews with elite DFID officials to explore their understandings on how they expect NGOs to engage with local languages and the role of language intermediaries. It uncovers their perceptions of the ways that languages and cultural knowledge shape NGO relationships with communities. It finds that the officials assume that listening is unproblematic for NGOs, and ask few questions about translation and interpretation. The article concludes by reflecting on policy implications and directions for further research.     

Agrarian reform

Agrarian reform and land reform have virtually disappeared from the international development agenda since the 1980s. However, many people's organisations (POs) and NGOs in Third World countries are attempting to restore them as a development priority and policy imperative. The Philippines provides an example of agrarian reform that is currently being implemented within a democratic political framework which, while not without problems, presents an opportunity for a meaningful change for small farmers and landless peasants. In 1989, PhilDhrra, a network of NGOs in the Philippines, initiated a tripartite mechanism and programme among POs, NGOs, and government to facilitate the agrarian-reform process, which is showing encouraging results in several provinces.     

Why work “at home”? Oxfam’s value-added and the UK Poverty Programme

International development NGOs are in existential crisis. Their legitimacy and added value are increasingly challenged. While scholars have focused on legitimacy, work on “value-added” is scarce. In particular, no research addresses the value of domestic programmes to international NGOs. This article rectifies this, focusing on the case of Oxfam GB’s UK Poverty Programme (UKPP). Using empirical research from 35 interviews with Oxfam GB staff, partners and beneficiaries and over 150 archive documents, the article identifies seven assets through which the programme provides value added to Oxfam GB. It highlights the possibility that these could offer insights into the dimensions of future INGOs.     

Post-disaster reconstruction: lessons from Nagapattinam district,India

As disaster losses continue to rise around the world, it has become increasingly important to understand the long-term outcomes of post-disaster recovery programmes. Often, disaster recovery projects have an abbreviated planning period, involve multiple NGOs, and lack long-term plans for evaluation. This article describes outcomes of the shelter reconstruction programme following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Nagapattinam, India. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to assess the effect of the programme on housing, community infrastructure, and livelihoods. The study provides useful lessons for future reconstruction programmes and demonstrates the importance of evaluating post-disaster recovery programmes after projects end.     

Working with local NGOs: WaterAid's programme in Nepal

This article describes the evolution of WaterAid's programme of work in Nepal, based on the author's experiences while working as WaterAid's Representative Engineer in Nepal from 1987 to 1991. It examines how WaterAid's philosophy of working in partnership with local organisations was actually put into practice. Various problems and constraints are identified and discussed, and certain points are highlighted which may be of general interest to other external support agencies working in similar ways in other countries and sectors. The overall conclusion is that this programme represents a viable methodology for an international NGO to achieve useful results in supporting local NGOs working in development.     

Towards a policy framework for the empowerment of social movements

As they move from responding to needs and demands to a more rights-based approach, some French NGOs are rethinking both their areas of work and their ways of working. ‘Empowerment’ has become a key concept in this changing context, although it is sometimes difficult to know how best to apply it and understand what it really means in an NGO setting. This article shares some thinking on empowerment, analysing its ‘object’ (individuals, organisations, networks, or movements) and the ‘process’ through which it is realised. Drawing on the author's own experience and on a brief literature review, it is illustrated by the examples of the international disability and US gay rights movements.     

What can we learn from programme reports? Lessons from international forestry programmes

This article discusses the current state of knowledge sharing and reporting by international development agencies and NGOs by examining several major internationally supported forestry programmes in Kyrgyzstan. The programme reporting practices of a selection of international development agencies and their limitations are discussed in light of recent developments in the areas of open data, knowledge management, and global reporting standards. The article proposes that focusing on learning and knowledge sharing rather than merely accountability, as well as building on corporate reporting standards, could help establish an easy-to-use global knowledge pool to eventually ensure more effective, evidence-based international development.     

Fighting and Helping? A Historical-Institutionalist Explanation of NGO-Military Relations

In complex humanitarian emergencies, why are NGO-military relations cooperative in some cases, yet deeply conflictual in others? Drawing on historical-institutionalist theoretical insights, we argue that NGOs and military organizations are embedded in, and responding to, domestic institutional configurations that define a set of political incentives and constraints, material and normative, which structures and influences the characteristics and outcomes of their relations. Counterarguments suggest that organizational differences and the nature of their missions affect NGO-military relations. Using fresh empirical evidence we assess these arguments by comparing the Italian and the French experiences of NGO-military relations during the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan and the UN mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL II) between 2007 and 2011.We find that domestic institutional configurations are not left behind when NGOs and military units deploy abroad. Rather, they shape NGOs' and militaries' capacity to work together instead of at cross purposes and ultimately influence the success of international action.     

Environmental reform in Brazil: advances and reversals

It is now two years since the Government of President Fernando Collor de Mello took office in Brazil. This article assesses its effectiveness in implementing its environmental policies and resolving social conflicts in the Amazon in the run-up to the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development. It examines some of the political and economic problems which have beset the new environmental programme, and gives an account of the response of Brazilian NGOs to some of the Government's main initiatives.     

Investing in multi-stakeholder dialogue to address natural resource competition and conflict

How can multi-stakeholder dialogue help assess and address the roots of environmental resource competition and conflict? This article summarises the outcomes and lessons from action research in large lake systems in Uganda, Zambia, and Cambodia. Dialogues linking community groups, NGOs and government agencies have reduced local conflict, produced agreements with private investors, and influenced government priorities in ways that respond to the needs of marginalised fishing communities. The article details policy guidance in four areas: building stakeholder commitment, understanding the institutional and governance context, involving local groups in the policy reform process, and embracing adaptability in programme implementation.     

NGO–government partnerships for scaling up: sexuality education in Mexico

Governments in developing countries need effective programmes to advance public policies and improve social welfare. NGOs often have well-tested programmes and research outcomes that are relevant to such needs, yet the scaling up of pilot programmes to national level is difficult to achieve and frequently unsuccessful. This article presents a case of successful scaling up for an adolescent sexual-health and psychosocial-competencies programme in Mexico, through an NGO–government partnership involving IMIFAP, a Mexican NGO. The case illustrates how an NGO can create a successful partnership with government to scale up effective programmes, in ways that meet key needs of the target population while protecting the NGO's core values.     

Participation of CSOs/NGOs in Bangladeshi climate change policy formulation: co-operation or co-optation?

The Bangladesh government formulated the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategies and Action Plans (BCCSAP) in 2008 through a participatory process involving several CSOs/NGOs and others. This article discusses the participation of CSOs/NGOs in climate change policy-making, focusing on mapping their level of participation in policy-making. It demonstrates that state laws allow CSOs/NGOs to implement several projects voluntarily, but largely prohibit their participation in political decision-making processes. The state invites a few CSOs/NGOs as a condition to receive aid, but displays arbitrary and co-opting attitudes towards CSOs/NGOs that rarely ensure joint decisions in creating policy.     

菲律宾的非政府组织

本文分析了菲律宾作为拥有全球第三大非政府组织(NGO)的发展中国家,其非政府组织的缘起、总体情况及其发展趋势,并认为目前菲律宾NGO对国家和地区政策的影响仍然不大,但通过市民社会与国家的互动,有可能在国家政治生活中发挥更大的作用并影响政治决策。     

马来西亚妇女非政府组织的发展

本文首先回顾了马来西亚妇女非政府组织的发展历程,然后对独立后马来西亚主要的妇女非政府组织及其活动进行介绍,最后对马来西亚妇女非政府组织与马来西亚政府的关系进行评估和分析。