Development is done best when it emerges from within local communities – it is here that the NGOs need to give a helping hand
Arthur Larok runs an anti-corruption newsletter Black Monday in Uganda. He was arrested in January but released within hours. A prominent bishop, who supports Larok's campaign, was also arrested. Their arrests brought notoriety but the monthly publication has since spawned the Black Monday civil society movement.
Activists wear black every Monday and spread the message of how corruption is stealing people's livelihoods. The campaign has piled pressure on politicians, gained media coverage and has led to the arrest of corrupt leaders. The newsletter has even figured in discussion over budget process and allocation in the parliament.
Black Monday is just one example of how NGOs can support civil society organisations (CSOs) to help drive progress on issues such as corruption. "The movement is now beyond NGOs, powered by the momentum of the people," Larok says.
However it was founded by four in-country NGOs – ActionAid Uganda, the Ugandan National NGO Forum, the Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Organisations, and the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda.
"Development organisations can strengthen the capacity of civil society through a broad spectrum of activities," says Biljana Radonjic Ker-Lindsay, head of the civil society engagement unit at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). "For example, promoting enabling environments for civil society, involving CSOs in policy dialogue and monitoring of development activities. Recently there has been a shift towards empowering CSOs to conduct participatory monitoring and evaluation of service and project delivery ... holding their governments accountable."
Gideon Rabinowitz, research officer, Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure, ODI, also says that support from development agencies can give CSOs greater leverage and visibility.
"In the face of hostile governments, CSOs can flounder without the help of larger NGOs," says Shenard Mazengera, global essential services adviser for Oxfam. "Sometimes civil society groups lack the necessary financial and human capacity to effectively engage with policy makers and influence change."
However, providing CSOs with support and guidance without overtaking their agenda and compromising autonomy, is a tricky balancing act. Acting head of policy at ActionAid UK, Clare Coffey, advocates dialogue. "You need to be very sensitive to not diverting them. Ask how you can help them ... it requires some skill, a lot of respect, and humility I think, to ensure that you're not trying to determine or identify what someone else thinks is the important thing. Do all NGOs achieve that? It's a big question ..."
The US's Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) works on the premise that identifying civil society partners on the ground depends on mutual understanding and trust. Agnieszka Rawa, managing director for west Africa in MCC's compact operations department says: "It takes time to build relationships with the 'right' individuals capable of identifying a shared purpose and then working through the organisational and administrative differences ... This can begin as a desktop exercise, but its value will increase if it is then validated and verified through consultation with both in-country counterparts as well as international affiliates involved in the particular field of interest."
However, as Radonjic Ker-Lindsay says: "This is not an easy task ... given the large number of NGOs that operate in each country and their divergent agendas and constituencies. Also, there are concerns regarding CSOs' accountability and representativeness among local communities. The best approach is when development agencies have a strong local presence and ability to vet and monitor potential civil society partners ... In practice, it is mainly achieved – although imperfectly – through donor coordination and sharing of information and lessons learnt among peers in the development community in a particular country."
As for protecting a CSOs identity and integrity, Rabinowitz advises support through core funding, which funds an organisation as a whole rather than a distinct set of activities.
Many development organisations provide support through training and the lending of expertise and infrastructure, rather than direct funding. Some, such as MCC, also help to link in-country governments with CSOs.
For Larok and the Black Monday movement, the growing support and engagement of the international community is welcome. ActionAid has since helped similar movements start up in Nigeria and Kenya. However its status within Uganda as a home-grown civil society movement remains paramount. "The actions that we have identified are not the sort that we are going to take to a donor to say 'please we want to run workshop'. These are citizen actions. The more engagements we have with ordinary people, radio conversations, TV, mobilising on facebook, the more things will go beyond the constraints of institutional difficulty. We are involving citizens rather than sitting in a workshop," says Larok.
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