Bureaucracy kills democracy

"As long as states represent the highest form of political authority, it will be impossible to channel human self-interest toward common solutions." This is stated by Rob Annandale, a Vancouver-based journalist and contributor to the Guardian and a.o. to this debate at The Broker. I admire this statement as it  acknowledges  the bankruptcy of the state that is likely to follow the  failure of the  greed-based economic-growth model that it has attempted  to s...

Demanding Justice

It sounds almost as a cliché, but our present world is changing  rapidly – and so is the role of NGOs. The emergence of new economic  powers, speedy globalization, the power of social media – these are just some of the developments covered in our daily newspapers which are  changing our world at an incredible pace. There is however one vital change that is incredibly important for our work and which doesn’t get the attention it should get: we live in a world of growing scarcity...

Let's not look for the Holy Grail

Yes, the crisis affecting international NGOs working on development is real. Having had a clear role and function for 50 years, the midlife crisis, as Michael Edwards describes it, has arrived. Before moving to a new future, let’s be proud of what has been achieved. Where would development have been without the innovative contribution of NGOs in gender, microfinance, HIV/Aids and ecological farming? And NGOs have undeniably played an important part in the struggle against South American dicta...

The midlife crises of NGOs

It’s a midlife crisis. This conclusion about the current condition of the NGOs strikes my mind after reading the think-piece by Michael Edwards for the debate on the future role of NGOs. Just look at the symptoms mentioned: i) a crisis of identity, with a perceived gap between what one wants to be and what one is (thick problems and thin solutions), and ii) the existential questions about the meaning of life: what have I achieved, will I ever be able to achieve anything at all?

How are the game changers spending their time

As we look into the future of aid, can INGOs harness the energy   currently focused on controlling finances and demonstrating results   based on donors’ needs, and use it instead to concentrate on the   priorities of those their mission ultimately serves? The good news is   that international non-governmental organizations do not operate from a   profit motive. They can change the game until the game doesn’t look the   same. Jennifer Lentfer argues;

Communities - agents of change

Olga Golichenko argues; "The big advantage of international NGOs (INGOs) I believe is their   ability to facilitate, multiply and sustain positive change for   communities who are marginalised in society. This includes for example,   people who use drugs who face criminalisation and are unable to access   basic healthcare services; sex workers who are abused by police and   prosecuted, or people living with HIV who because of stigma and   discrimination cann...

The thick end of social entrepreneurship’s thin means

Can you 'cut' human rights? Health care is a human right, a ‘global public good’ to fight  ‘global  public bads’. This does not mean that health care is free.  Developed  countries, for example, now devote as much as 30% of their  groaning  public finances to it. But, for the bulk of the world’s  population,  health care is paid directly by the consumer. An anathema to  many in  both the development and health (care) industries, but at the &nb...

Fragile Citizenship

In this article, Marjoke Oosterom, PhD candidate at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, discusses how perceptions and practices of citizenship are experienced in the post-conflict situation of the Acholi region in Northern Uganda. 

Future Headlines

Since we do not own a Delorean to go to the future with and we do not know Nostradamus, Doctor Who or Madame Web, it is difficult to foresee the future. But what if we try to imagine what the headlines would be in the year 2028, the year Hivos will turn 60.

A Dilemma of Democratic Citizenship

Citizenship in the West is understood as a status of the individual incorporating rights and duties. However, this understanding of citizenship can also be viewed as a democratic deficiency of modern citizenship. In May 2010 James Tully, professor at UVic, gave a public lecture on this topic called "A Dilemma of Democratic Citizenship". In this lecture he explains that the dilemma arises when citizens try to respond to four major local and global problems of public goods today.