OPS 35. Promoting Effective North-South NGO Partnerships

Partnership between NGOs based in the ‘North’ and the ‘South’  have become a key part of international development processes. Whilst NGOs are drawn to the concept of partnership as an expression of solidarity that goes beyond financial aid, few development concepts have been the subject of such rigorous debate by outside commentators and also internally within NGOs themselves.

This research explores the way in which Northern NGOs approach partnership and how they internalise the concept in terms of policy, practice and organisational culture. However, the research has not attempted to assess NGOs’ own notions of partnership against an idealised notion. Rather, the starting point has been to seek to understand and analyse the views and practices of Northern NGOs. The aim of the study has been to look at how the NGOs define and manage partnership processes internally within their organisations.