ONTRAC 10. Direct funding from a Southern perspective: strengthening Civil Society?

Has the significant increase in funds to southern NGOs (SNGOs) by official agencies reinforced local civil society through the development of new partnerships or has it led to the emergence of a new generation of SNGO contractors? An INTRAC study funded by the Ford Foundation set out to counteract the very “northern” bias of previous studies on direct funding by incorporating a strong southern perspective into the research through commissioning case studies of Peru, Bangladesh and Kenya.

ONTRAC 10 also looks at children’s participation in planning, programming and research. INTRAC developed a course to provide programme managers and others with a chance to reflect on and learn about the opportunities and constraints for involving children in planning, programming, needs assessment and monitoring and evaluation and some of the tools and methods available for such work.

This issue concludes with a look at what differentiates NGO’s from companies, as well as asking the question; will capacity building provide a focus for uniting southern and northern NGOs, or will it merely fuel the decade-long debate between them over roles and territories?