The art of framing

NGOs have been joining forces to increase their effectiveness, but what they really need to do is to form alliances with social movements as well to avoid working in isolation from broader social currents.

Let’s talk about…social movements

What characterises social movements? Why are they relevant? How to support a movement that is, by its very nature, fluid and changeable? Does financial support to one organisation or group within a social movement strengthen the movement as a whole, or does it lead to division? These were among the key quesitons that brought together Hivos, the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) and PSO on the 9th of June 2010 to explore the challenges Northern NGOs face in supporting social movements. Repres...

Join us for a special book launch!

On 21 June 2010, from 17.30 to 18.30 we invite you to join us in the Atrium of the Institute of Social Studies, during which we will toast on a special occasion: the publication of the book ‘Participation for What: Social Change or Social Control?” (ISS, 2010).

Debating Knowledge Production and Sharing during CERES Summer School

On 23 and 24 June 2010 the Research School for Resource Studies for Development (CERES) is organising a Summer School on "Global Governance, the Crisis and Development: New Direction in Development Cooperation" at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague.

Knowledges for Development, Development for Knowledges?

The Development Dialogue is a yearly initiative of PhD candidates at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University, in The Hague, The Netherlands. The objective is to exchange the results of recent and ongoing research by young scholars and PhD candidates in different fields of development studies.

Civil Society 2.0

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, WordPress, Wikipedia, Wikileaks. What is the power of social media for local and international development cooperation? And what is this 'new' power to exchange information and knowledge used for, and by whome? How effective is it, and how long will this 'web 2.0 era' last? Soon we will explore these questions in an upcoming blogpost by our team members. In the meantime, let us first test the power of Web 2.0 ourselves. Besides following the Knowledge...

Building or Deconstructing Civil Society?

At the conference “Power to the People? (Con-)Tested Civil Society in Search of Democracy”, which was hosted by the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD, Uppsala University), in cooperation with the Swedish International Development Cooperative Agency (Sida), our Civil Society Building Knowledge Programme team member Marlieke Kieboom interviewed a range of participants and asked them several outstanding yet relevant questions. The respondents are: Mattias Jonsjö (Swedish policy specialist...

How Civil is Civil Society?

On March 23/24 the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD, Uppsala University), in cooperation with the Swedish International Development Cooperative Agency (Sida), organised a conference to debate questions over civil society and democratization processes. The 2-day event is part of a five-year project from CSD, which aims to strengthen Swedish research about civil society and its role in international development as well as to strengthen research-based knowledge in policy development in t...

Civil Society Gateway

How to connect journalists with leaders and members from civil society organisations around the world? A new initiative by CIVICUS and InterPressService (IPS) makes an effort to bridge this information gap, to let 'the grassroots' more effectively communicate with the media on their actions against poverty, as "visions and voices from the South" are often missing in mainstream media.

Claims to Success: ICT based Advocacy for the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa

How can the internet be used to promote the advocacy efforts by civil society organizations? In this paper, Caroline Kemp reflects on this question by examining the Solidarity for Women’s Rights Coalition (SOAWR) and their work towards promoting the Protocol for Women’s rights in Africa. The African Union adopted this protocol in 2005, but to date the ratification, popularization and implementation by member-states has been a slow process. SOAWR been instrumental in civic efforts to promote...