Changing approaches to civil society partnerships in development co-operation: Enabling locally led development?

• In Event: Civil society partnerships

Abstract

Providers of international development co-operation and humanitarian assistance have long supported the work of civil society organisations (CSOs) in a range of roles from watchdog to service provider to agents of democratisation. In 2022, 25 billion USD of Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members’ official development assistance (ODA) flowed to CSOs, an average of 12% of ODA (OECD 2024).
However, a series of crises in recent years is changing the development co-operation environment and the place of CSOs in it. The geopolitical landscape is not what it was at the birth of ODA over sixty years ago. There is growing mistrust of ODA providers among governments and citizens in ODA recipient countries, exacerbated by these providers’ response to Russia’s war in Ukraine perceived as disproportionate relative to their response to conflict elsewhere in the world. Traditional ODA providers compete for influence with newer providers such as China in a context of rising autocratisation around the globe (Alizada et al. 2021, Boese et al. 2022). CSOs see the space in which they can operate shrinking in many parts of the world, inclusive of accusations of foreign agentry alongside restrictive regulations, in some instances exacerbated by regulations geared to tackle effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (CIVICUS, 2022; Dupuy and Prakash, 2020; ICNL, 2020). On top of the above crises, critiques of the status quo stemming from movements such as Me Too, Black Lives Matter, Decolonisation and Shift the Power are relevant and increasingly applied to international development co-operation. Overall, there is pushback against ODA providers and the CSOs that they support (Dupuy, Ron and Prakash, 2016, DeMattee, 2019).
In 2022, 90% of DAC members’ ODA went to their own country and international CSOs (hereafter referred to as “international CSOs”), with the 10% balance going to partner country CSOs (OECD 2024). The influx of international CSOs into Ukraine at the expense of relatively well-established Ukrainian CSOs has shone light on the issue of power and resource imbalances and inefficiencies in ODA for CSOs (Noe and Harding, 2023). Providers of ODA and CSOs have been called on to rethink and retool their roles and ways of working (Brechenmacher and Carothers, 2019; Dodsworth and Cheeseman, 2018; OECD 2021). In this regard, locally led development is the latest trend with increasing commitments from providers and CSOs alike (USAID, 2022; Pledge for Change, 2022).
Alongside the shift in rhetoric, shifts in policy and practice come with significant changes for international CSOs and those in partner countries. This paper points to examples of such changes taking place in the development co-operation and humanitarian assistance sphere. It explores the implications and the tensions that need to be considered for a transition to more locally led development co-operation with civil society that enables a vibrant and diverse civil society able to maximise its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals while protecting civic space.

References

Alizada, N., R. Cole, L. Gastaldi, S. Grahn, S. Hellmeier, P. Kolvani, J. Lachapelle, A. Lührmann, S. F. Maerz, S. Pillai, and S.I. Lindberg (2021). Autocratization Turns Viral. Democracy Report 2021. Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem).
https://www.v-dem.net/static/website/files/dr/dr_2021.pdf

Boese, V. A., N. Alizada, M. Lundstedt, K. Morrison, N. Natsika, Y. Sato, H. Tai, and S. I. Lindberg. (2022). Autocratization Changing Nature? Democracy Report 2022. Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem). https://v-dem.net/media/publications/dr_2022.pdf

Brechenmacher. S. and T. Carothers (2019). Defending Civic Space: Is the International Community Stuck? Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/files/WP_Brechenmacker_Carothers_Civil_Space_FINAL.pdf

CIVICUS (2022). People Power Under Attack 2022: A report based on data from the CIVICUS Monitor. https://civicusmonitor.contentfiles.net/media/documents/GlobalFindings2022.pdf

DeMattee, A. J. (2019). Covenants, constitutions, and distinct law types: Investigating governments’ restrictions on CSOs using an institutional approach. VOLUNTAS, 30, 1229–1255. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-019-00151-2

Dodsworth, S. and N. Cheeseman (2018). Risk, politics and development: Lessons from the UK’s democracy aid. Public Administration and Development, 38(2), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1822

Dupuy, K., and A. Prakash (2020). Global backlash against foreign funding to domestic nongovernmental organizations. In W. Powell & P. Bromley (Eds.), The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook (3rd ed., pp. 618–630). Stanford: Stanford University Press

Dupuy, K., Ron J., and Prakash, A. (2016). Hands Off My Regime! Governments’ Restrictions on Foreign Aid to Non-Governmental Organizations in Poor Countries. World Development, 84, 299-311. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X1530187X

International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (2020). Top Trends: Covid-19 and Civic Space. https://www.icnl.org/wp-content/uploads/05.2020-Trends-in-COVID-impact-on-CS-vf.pdf


Noe, N. and H. Lang (2023). Efforts to Localize Aid in Ukraine One Year On: Stuck in Neutral, Losing Time. Refugees International. https://d3jwam0i5codb7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UkraineReport-February2023-1.pdf

OECD (2021), DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance, OECD/LEGAL/5021. https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-5021

OECD (2024), Aid for Civil Society Organisations: Statistics based on DAC Members’ reporting to the Creditor Reporting System database (CRS), 2021-22. https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-topics/Aid-for-CSOs-2024.pdf

Pledge for Change 2030 (2022), Pledge for Change 2030, https://pledgeforchange2030.org/

USAID (2022). Donor Statement on Supporting Locally Led
Development. Announced December 13, 2022 at the 2022 Effective Development Cooperation Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.usaid.gov/localization/donor-statement-on-supporting-locally-led-development

Authors

• Jacqueline Wood, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate

• Renwick Irvine, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development