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David Winder is Director, Country Programs of The Synergos Institute. At Synergos, Dr. Winder has developed a foundation building program that provides technical assistance to grantmaking foundations, associations of foundations, and philanthropy support centers in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Southern Africa. |
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In their recent efforts to increase the impact of bilateral aid on poverty, inequality, and injustice, official development assistance (ODA) agencies have sought ways to directly support community level initiatives. This search for more effective ways of delivering financial and technical assistance has been driven by increasing dissatisfaction with the failure of many governments to provide adequate opportunities for the poor. In some cases it has also been initiated in response to pressures from constituencies in the home countries, particularly from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The result has been the creation of a diversity of new funding channels, many of them involving NGOs, both in the host and donor countries.
The approaches range from ad hoc small grants programs directly managed by ODA agency staff in country to carefully crafted strategies that seek to build strong civil society-managed funding institutions that are sustainable and act as a buttress against arbitrary and authoritarian governments. As awareness of the complexities of delivering resources directly to communities has increased, ODA agencies have come to appreciate the role that local independent intermediary organizations in civil society can play. In their most advanced form, such organizations have been given endowments through debt swaps and other mechanisms and have become institutions with capacity to have a lasting impact in a given field. Specifically, these are local organizations that can successfully bridge between communities and resources (financial, intellectual, human, and other) and are thus distinct from any NGO. As a bridging organization, they mobilize and facilitate the transfer of financial resources to NGOs and other more informal associations while also convening stakeholders around critical issues and building the capacity of civil society.1
ODA agencies have learned much from these varying approaches to working with civil society. Little analysis has been conducted, however, of what worked, including the how and why, and few attempts have been made to share the balance sheet more widely.2
This study addresses this lack of analysis by examining a range of different ways ODA agencies and civil society have collaborated in Southeast Asia and specifically in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. ODA agencies have been active in this region for more than a decade. In the wake of the Asian economic crisis, several increased their commitments to these countries, established unique partnerships with emerging organizations, and some even seeded the start of new organizations. For its analysis, Synergos selected six ODA programs and assessed the degree of decision-making autonomy on funding matters delegated to the NGO or NGO community by the ODA agency as well as the sustainability of the funding mechanisms developed between the ODA agency and NGO(s) involved.3 Out of this analysis, three broad categories -- or options -- emerged for how ODA agencies and civil society can collaborate. In addition to laying out each option, the challenges and advantages of each are explored. Suggestions are made to ODA agencies and civil society to inform current dialogue on further strengthening the impact of aid programs.
Notes
1 Consensus over the terminology for such organizations has not yet been reached, though they are often referred to as "foundations" or "community development foundations" in recognition of the role they have in common with foundations of the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe. In Southeast Asia, the term "civil society resource organization" -- or CSRO -- has also been used.
2 An exception has been the attempts by CODE-NGO in the Philippines to assess the effectiveness of ODA strategies for engaging the NGO sector in aid delivery. The Synergos Institute also commissioned a study in 1999 (unpublished) by Draimin and Smillie of the effectiveness of cooperation between ODA agencies and Southern foundations. It drew on six case studies of Southern grantmaking foundations and questionnaire responses from 49 foundations.
3 We are grateful to the following agencies for their cooperation in agreeing to the preparation of the cases: the Canadian International Development Agency, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the United States Agency for International Development, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.