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.     

Obstacles to NGOs’ accountability to intended beneficiaries: the case of ActionAid

While NGO accountability is widely discussed in the literature, there has been little work done on how accountability systems operate in practice. This article aims to address this gap by using qualitative empirical data to provide a case study of one NGO’s initiative in this area. ActionAid has made substantial, high-profile efforts to improve its downward accountability since 2000. Using data from fieldwork conducted in Uganda and internationally, the article reveals the operational obstacles which have hindered ActionAid in its attempts to strengthen its accountability to intended beneficiaries at the community level, and reviews ActionAid’s ongoing commitment to this goal.     

公共管理创新视角下的我国非政府组织研究

公共管理只有不断创新才能适应时代的发展。公共管理创新要求转变公共治理模式,大力发展非政府组织,实现政府、市场和非政府组织的合作互动。非政府纽织在公共管理创新中发挥着重要作用。然而,我国非政府组织在发展中还存在着许多问题,为此应该转变政府职能、完善相关法律法规、加强非政府组织自身能力建设、培育社会公共意识和服务精神,以此促进非政府组织的发展,更好地推动公共管理创新。     

The Role of French Environmental Associations in Civil Liability for Environmental Harm: Courtesy of Erika

Last January, the Tribunal Correctionnel de Paris, in its decisionconcerning the Erika oil spill, clearly recognised the rightof environmental associations to claim compensation for damagedone to the environment per se. Taking the judgment as a startingpoint, this article gives a brief insight into the French regimeof civil liability for environmental harm, with a special focuson the role, as provided in the regime and further developedin the case-law, of French environmental associations. The latterare formally recognised, under certain conditions, as "guardians"of the collective interest to environmental protection. As aresult, they are entitled to bring civil party petitions beforecriminal courts in case of -largely defined- "environmentalcrimes". These procedural rights have been broadly interpretedby (criminal, as well as civil) courts and effectively usedby associations to ensure that the "polluter pays" and thatcivil damages reflect, to the extent possible, the reality ofenvironmental harm, while serving the interests of general prevention.     

The politics of social service provision through NGOs: A study of Latin America

Abstract — This article looks at the role of NGOs in social service delivery in Latin America and questions some of the assumptions which are often made about their abilities. Following the implementation of the neo-liberal model, increased conditionality has been placed on economic assistance. This has created a new role for NGOs, whereby they are harnessed by states in order to secure effective implementation of reform packages. In the process many NGOs and their own agendas become distorted. The paper discusses the political implications of this new role for NGOs and goes on to conclude that, given the nature of the democratisation process in Latin America, and the accompanying economic model, expectations regarding NGO potential for grassroots empowerment have been over-optimistic.     

Democratization from below: Civil society in Tajikistan

A decade ago an exploration of civil society in South Africa, Tajikistan and Argentina highlighted its role in supporting democratization. Despite continuing global autocratic trends since then, South Africa and Argentina have remained vibrant democracies with strong civil societies. Tajikistan, in contrast, remains autocratic, and civil society has apparently weakened in recent years. However, at the grassroots level a combination of traditional grassroots organizations and Internet organizing provides a more complex picture of the relationships between local participation, ties with other civil society organizations, democratization and development. The purpose of this paper is to highlight both these relationships and the contrast between local democratization and national autocracy.     

Respecting communities: languages and cultural understanding in international development work

This viewpoint summarises the key research themes from “The Listening Zones of NGOs” research project, that brought together NGO practitioners, language practitioners and academics from a number of disciplines. The research found that paying close attention to languages contributes to successful development programmes, according to the staff of both international and national NGOs. However, the general shift towards an emphasis on technical and thematic expertise among many INGOs has led to the risk that contextual knowledge and the resourcing of language and cultural understanding are not given priority. For INGOs, listening to the competing voices of multiple actors and organisations presents major challenges. The viewpoint presents ways of addressing those challenges.     

Women’s NGOs as intermediaries in development cooperation: findings from research in Tanzania

This article employs research conducted with the Kivulini Women’s Rights Organization in Tanzania to discuss opportunities, constraints, and broader lessons about the role of women’s NGOs as intermediaries in development projects. Findings reveal that women’s NGOs often have insecure positions in development projects and are undervalued by executing agencies because advocating for gender equality is perceived as a “natural” extension of women’s roles in patriarchal societies. Women’s NGOs are “feminised” and consequently trivialised in their role as intermediaries, putting gender equality objectives at risk of attrition or abandonment. Under certain circumstances, women’s NGOs can be pushed out of partnership projects altogether.     

“I know! I live here”: poor women and the work of empowerment

To trace the effects of empowerment programmes in the Global South, attention needs to be focused on the everyday practices of frontline staff, or fieldworkers, who convey empowerment ideas and practices at the grassroots. This is especially critical when fieldworkers work in the marginalised communities where they also live. Instead of looking outward towards a programme’s outcomes, this article turns inward to examine the impact of women fieldworkers’ dual experiences of development on their decisions and practices in the field. The ethnography of women fieldworkers in a government-led women’s empowerment programme for the poor in Delhi, India reveals the uneasy relationship of women’s empowerment to the larger contradictory development paradigm that they work within. Fieldworkers used their experiences as poor women to meet programme quotas, while also side-lining social change in favour of shielding clients from ineffective programme activities.     

Promoting NGO–academic partnerships for population,health, and environment learning

Population, health, and environment (PHE) projects integrate family planning, community health, conservation, and livelihoods activities into a single effort. Despite growing calls for integrated services, relatively little academic research on PHE has been published, which has hampered the development of the approach. This article argues that additional partnerships between academics and NGOs are necessary to further advance learning around PHE. However, such partnerships need not be approached in the same way. The article discusses barriers that currently impede the development of stronger partnerships and adapts (Roper, L. 2002. “Achieving Successful Academic-Practitioner Research Collaborations.” Development in Practice 12 (3–4): 338–345) typology of NGO–academic partnership models to describe how different relationship types are currently leveraged within the PHE community.