The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) has the pleasure of inviting you to a seminar on:
Critical Perspectives on Development NGOs: Is there Any Future?
Monday, 19 May 2008, 14.00-16.30
Danish Institute for International Studies
Main Auditorium
Strandgade 71, ground floor, 1401 Copenhagen K
Background
The world of international development is changing and this has important consequences for development NGOs from rich countries trying to combat poverty in poor countries. Global problems like climate change, terrorism, migration, bird flu, etc. have mounted the agenda of international development assistance; aid is provided by more, and increasingly different, donors, such as global funds and new bilateral donors, including China; harmonisation is in and diversity out when it comes to the provision of aid; focus is on sector programmes, budget support and growth in order to alleviate poverty; and civil society organisations in poor countries are getting stronger and more effective. None of these tendencies are favourable to development NGOs in rich countries.
It is frequently argued that development NGOs are closest to the poor; are more flexible and quick in responding to local needs; are strongly engaged in countries with weak institutions and fragile states; are better at mobilising poor and marginalised groups to take part in democratic processes; etc. These are important reasons why – it is argued – development NGOs are significant actors in development and aid. However, if this is only partly true and if development NGOs do not present adequate responses to the changing conditions for aid, one may raise the question: Is there any future?
The seminar will address the above issues by (i) discussing current orientations and allocation of resources by development NGOs; (ii) assessing the state of civil societies in Sub-Saharan Africa; and (iii) presenting the consequences for development NGOs of contemporary changes in and around development assistance.
Dirk-Jan Koch is Policy Advisor at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and PhD Candidate at the Centre for International Development Issues, Radboud University Nijmegen.
Paul Opoku-Mensah is Associate Professor in Development and International Relations at Aalborg University and has recently co-edited the volume Reconceptualising NGOs and their Roles in Development (Aalborg University Press, 2007).
Lars Engberg-Pedersen is Project Senior Researcher at DIIS and former International Director of MS - Danish Association for International Co-operation.
Programme
14.00-14.05 Introduction
Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Project Senior Researcher, DIIS
14.05-14.25 Blind Spots on the Aid Map: Clustering and Other Curious
Geographic Choices of NGOs?
Dirk-Jan Koch, Policy Advisor and PhD Candidate, Netherlands
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Radboud University Nijmegen
14.25-14.45 Development NGOs and the State of Civil Society in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Paul Opoku-Mensah, Associate Professor, Aalborg University
14.45-15.00 Changing Contexts for Aid and their Implications for
Development NGOs
Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Project Senior Researcher, DIIS
15.00-15.15 Coffee Break
15.15-16.30 Open Discussion
Practical Information
The seminar will be held in English.
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use the registration form below no later than Friday, 16 May 2008 at 12.00 noon. |
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