Bebbington, Anthony; Hickey, Samuel; Mitlin, Diana

Can NGOs Make a difference?: The challenge of development alternatives

LFLACSO-01-Bebbington.pdf (1.63 MB)

The conviction underlying the book is that NGOs are only NGOs in any politically meaningful sense of the term if they are offering alternatives to dominant models, practices and ideas about development. The question that the book addresses is whether -in the face of neoliberalism, the poverty agenda in aid, the new security agenda, institutional maturation (if not senescence), and the simple imperatives of organizational survival -NGOs continue to constitute alternatives.

Edwards, Michael

Have NGOs Made a difference? From Manchester to Birmingham with an elephant in the room

LFLACSO-02-Edwards.pdf (718.04 KB)

Fifteen years on, the NGO universe has been substantially transformed, with rates of growth in scale and profile that once would have been unthinkable. Yet still the nagging questions remain. Despite the increasing size and sophistication of the development NGO sector, have NGOs really 'made a difference' in the ways the first Manchester Conference intended, or have the reforms that animated the NGO community during the 1990S now run out of steam?
In this chapter I try to answer these questions in two ways. First, through a retrospective look at the Manchester conferences -what they taught us, what infiuence they had, and how NGOs have changed. And second, by picking out a couple of especially important challenges in development terms and assessing whether NGOs 'stood up to be counted', so to speak, and did their best in addressing them. These two approaches suggest somewhat different conclusions, which will bring me to the 'elephant in the room' of my title.

Dagnino, Evelina

Challenges to participation, citizenship and democracy: perverse confluence and displacement of meanings

LFLACSO-03-Dagnino.pdf (798.43 KB)

The main purpose of this chapter is to discuss the challenges presented by recent developments in Brazil -but also elsewhere -to the participation of civil society in the building of democracy and social justice. The chapter will discuss first the existence of a perverse confluence between participatory and neoliberal political projects. From my point of view, this confluence characterizes the contemporary scenario of the struggle for deepening democracy in Brazil and in most of Latin America. Then it will examine the dispute over different meanings of citizenship, civil society and participation that constitute core referents for the understanding of that confluence, and the form that it takes in the Brazilian context.

Biekart, Kees

Learning from Latin America: Recent trends in European NGO policymaking

LFLACSO-04-Biekart.pdf (896.26 KB)

This chapter analyses changing policies and agendas of the twenty most important European private aid agencies and networks active in Latin America over the past decade. The analysis is based on a 'mapping exercise, initiated by ALOP, a Latin American network of NGOs. This network feared a gradual withdrawal of this more committed non-governmental aid.

Thomas, Alan

Whatever happened to reciprocity?: Implications of donor emphasis on voice and impact as rationales for working with NGOs in development

LFLACSO-05-Thomas.pdf (1 MB)

This chapter concerns non-governmental organizations and the rationale for their involvement in development. It analyses how donors view NGOs, looking particularly at the example of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), arguing that NGOs are expected to conform to one of two prescribed models of what they do, which tends to ignore or downplay the value basis of what NGOs are and the variety of ways they relate to development.

Fowler, Alan

Development and the New Security Agenda: W(h)ither(ing) NGO alternatives?

LFLACSO-06-Fowler.pdf (916.41 KB)

This chapter does not dwell on the many -both just and unjust -critiques of NGO-ism in terms of these and other shortcomings as self-generated constraints on being 'alternative' (e.g. Lewis and Wallace, 2000; Katsui and Wamai, 2006). Rather, the task is to approach the issue of limitations on NGDOs as development alternatives from the direction of a significant reframing of the aid system, broadly labelled 'securitization' (e.g. Duffield, 2002; Fowler, 2005; Howell, 2006).

Pollard, Amy; Court, Julius

How civil society organizations use evidence to influence policy processes

LFLACSO-07-Pollard.pdf (916.79 KB)

The concept of civil society is not new; it has been contested within political philosophy, sociology and social theory for hundreds of years. What is new is the increasing emphasis on the concept over the last decade -'civil society' has become a buzzword within international development. All manner of claims have been made about the potential of 'civil society', and specifically 'civil society organizations' (CSOs), to act as a force to reduce poverty, promote democracy and achieve sustainable development. But how exactly do they do this? Are CSOs always a force for good? What is the proper role of CSOs in international development? How do they influence policy? A number of studies have responded to these questions, identifying a number of issues around the accountability, legitimacy and effectiveness of the sector (Howell and Pearce, 2001; Lewis, 2001; Edwards, 2004; Van Rooy, 1999; Anheier et al., 2004).

Guijt, Irene

Civil society participation as the focus of northern NGO support: The case of dutch co-financing agencies

LFLACSO-08-Guijt.pdf (995.54 KB)

This chapter draws on a recent evaluation that examined how the support given between 1999 and 2004 was used by four of the CFAs -CORDAID, HIVOS, Oxfam NOVIB and Plan Netherlands -to further 'civil society participation' in Colombia, Guatemala, Guinea, Sri Lanka and Uganda.

Bazán, Cynthia; Cuellar, Nelson; Gómez, Ileana; Illsley, Cati; López, Adrian; Monterroso, Iliana; Pardo, Joaliné; Rocha, Jose Luis; Torres, Pedro; Bebbington, Anthony

Producing knowledge, generating alternatives?: Challenges to research-oriented NGOs in Central America and Mexico

LFLACSO-09-Bazan.pdf (1000.77 KB)

What do non-profit organizations whose primary role is to produce knowledge contribute to development alternatives? The question is not an idle one. As the Millennium Development Goals and the poverty agenda impress themselves ever more firmly on the criteria used to allocate international cooperation and national development budgets, research-oriented NGOs, and research activities within multi-functional NGOs, have found it increasingly difficult to secure funding. In this context, being clear on the nature, role and purpose of such NGOs is urgent, otherwise research activities in progressive NGOs will wither away, leaving the non-profit knowledge-generation field open to business-supported, more conservative and well-funded think-tanks. This urgency is both institutional (to offset an organizational demise that occurs by default rather than because of any clear strategic reasoning) and political (to avoid the further colonization of public debate and discourse by a core set of broadly neoliberal principIes encoded in different policy prescriptions and conceptual arguments).

Racelis, Mary

Anxieties and affirmations: NGO-Donor partnerships for social transformation

LFLACSO-10-Racelis.pdf (1.06 MB)

This chapter examines ways in which Philippine NGOs and their partner People's Organizations (POs) have broadened and protected democratic spaces through mobilizing, taking action and engaging in advocacy for social reform, structural change and the redefinition of donor priorities and operational modes. After a review of development challenges faced by NGOs, the discussion features three mini-cases illustrative of both small and large d/Development processes. One account examines Naga City slum upgrading activities in the Bicol region of Southern Luzon. The two others focus on activities centred in Metro Manila but which affect NGO/PO activities nationwide.

Derksen, Harry; Verhallen, Pim

Reinventing international NGOs: A view from the dutch co-financing system

LFLACSO-11-Derksen.pdf (893.94 KB)

The chapter first gives a brief description of developments in international debates on development. We draw attention to the depoliticization of development thought and practice, as well as the introduction of neoliberal policies of privatization and market instruments in the development architecture both in general and more specifically in the Dutch co-funding programme. We will try to identify the most important implications of these changes, for the work of Dutch international NGOs (INGOs), for the activities of their non-governmental partners overseas and for their joint ability to contribute effectively to the fight against exclusion and poverty. Lastly, we will describe how in the face of these difterent pressures, our own organization in introducing substantial changes to its strategies and ways of working, changes that aim to ensure our possibilities for making a difference for rhe poor and excluded.

Bristow, Katie

Transforming or conforming?: NGOs training health promoters and the dominant paradigm of the development industry in Bolivia

LFLACSO-12-Bristow.pdf (945.43 KB)

The chapter will argue that the mesh of factors are part of the conscious and unconscious strategies used by social groups, in this case relating to different health systems, to maintain, promote and defend their specific world-view, knowledge and practice. A theoretical framework will be used to explore how power to influence is made relative using Gramsci's (Gramsci, 1971) conscious hegemonic strategies together with Bourdieu's (Bourdieu, 1989) unconscious mechanisms of habitus and field.
The framework will be applied to two NGOs in Bolivia, 'CÓDIGO' Bolivia and World Vision's PDA in Santivañez (Programa de Desarrollo del Area, Area Development Programme), and their training and management of community health promoters.

Chhotray, Vasudha

Political enterpreneurs or development agents: An NGOs tale of resistance and acquiescence in Madhya Pradesh, India

LFLACSO-13-Chhotray.pdf (897.38 KB)

NGOs the world over have been regarded positively for their capacities both as 'political entrepreneurs' and as 'development agents', but there is growing cynicism over their abilities to combine these two roles.As polítical entrepreneurs, NGOs have been known to act as catalysts of radical and transformative social change, through their association with grassroots struggle in various forms. As development agents, NGOs have increasingly become key partners of both governments and donor agencies in implementing development programmes. The definitive mainstreaming of NGOs within international development during the last two decades has entailed growing pressures on NGOs, many of which may have started out as small and informal cadre-based organizations, to compete for development funds, formalize their organizational structures and 'scale up' their work. All this seems to have compromised the inclination and ability of NGOs devoted to development to engage in acts that are radically transformative.

Piálek, Nicholas

Is this really the end of the road for gender mainstreaming?: Getting to grips with gender and institutional change

LFLACSO-14-Pialek.pdf (913.52 KB)

This chapter suggests that a more sanguine approach is required, and that this critique itself should be subject to closer appraisal. Gender mainstreaming (and those implementing and analysing it) should not lose sight of the fact that such a process is fundamentally political. Gender mainstreaming is a form of feminist politics and policy (Walby, 2005: 463) that challenges dominant modes of thinking and practice in organizations working in development. As a consequence, the question that becomes most pertinent to ask is not, 'is this the end of gender mainstreaming?', but instead, 'how are gender policies and strategies consistently silenced across a range of organizational and institutional contexts?' It was with this question in mind that I conducted a three-year research project into gender mainstreaming in development organizations, and in particular Oxfam GB.

Yanacopulos, Helen; Baillie Smith, Matt

The ambivalent cosmopolitanism of international NGOs

LFLACSO-15-Yanacopulos.pdf (876.71 KB)

In this chapter we argue that the relationship between cosmopolitanism and NGOs demands greater caution and serious interrogation. This is not to deny the broad thrust of the connections we have just identified, but to highlight that the relationship is contested and, in some senses, rather more ambivalent than intuition would allow for. We do not necessarily seek to undermine a connection between NGOs and a cosmopolitan politics. But a more systematic exploration of the relationships between development NGOs and cosmopolitan politics can help us understand the capacity of NGOs to offer serious development alternatives, most notably in the form of a transnational politics of justice based on the values of solidarity.

Bolnick, Joel

Development as reform and counter-reform: Paths Travelled by Slum/Shack Dwellers International

LFLACSO-16-Bolnick.pdf (854.65 KB)

This chapter discusses the experiences of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI), a transnational movement of homeless and landless people's federations. Try as it might SDI can never escape the fact that it has these two trajectories as its ancestry, the movement experiences of its affiliates and the aid industry as its benefactor. This coalescence is de facto proof both of the failure of the radical projects of the social movements and of the emergence of the hegemony of foreign aid as the major vehicle for social and economic transformation in the South.

Hulme, David

Reflections on NGOs and development: The elephant, the dinosaur, several tigers but No Owl

LFLACSO-17-Hulme.pdf (467.34 KB)

Defining NGOs and precisely separating them from social movements may be less important than exploring the relationships between entities that seem to have NGO or social-movement characteristics. Rather than judging whether an NGO has contributed to development (the broad set of processes underlying capitalist development) or to Development (the subset of consciously identified interventions aimed at the 'third world') it may be more useful to look at the relationship between an NGO's actions on its 'little d' and 'big D' impacts. I shall strive for clarity in this chapter but recognize that ambiguity is an inevitable component of interpreting the role of NGOs in developmental processes.