{"id":981,"date":"2025-10-02T04:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/people-power-for-aid-effectiveness\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:00:49","slug":"people-power-for-aid-effectiveness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/busan-high-level-forum\/people-power-for-aid-effectiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"People Power For Aid Effectiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content column wide left blog_post content view\" id=\"content\">\n<div class=\"edit image\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/var\/broker\/storage\/images\/blogs\/busan-high-level-forum\/people-power-for-aid-effectiveness\/172679-2-eng-gb\/people-power-for-aid-effectiveness_full_view.jpg\" alt=\"Melbourne Sound Relief, Rainbow Brigade, by Alexander Kesselaar www.alexkess.com\">\n\t<\/div>\n<article class=\"fader\">\n<header class=\"contents\">\n<div class=\"share\">\n\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    var addthis_config = {\n        ui_language = 'en'\n    }\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis sharing\">\n\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\" addthis:title=\"People power for aid effectiveness\">\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_twitter\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_pinterest_share\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = data_track_addressbar;<\/script><br \/>\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"addthis article_options\">\n\t\t<!-- \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/mandrill\/subscription\/add\/18362\/19064\">Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t -->\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople power for aid effectiveness<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pubDate\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/zomer-hans\/\">Hans Zomer<\/a>\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t16 October 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n\t<!-- body --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"><b><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Effective aid work means enabling NGOs to bring about real, lasting change for poor people.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"><b><a href=\"http:\/\/dochasnetwork.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/19\/six-years-since-paris-aid-effectiveness-the-2005-paris-declaration-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Busan High Level Forum follows up on earlier summits<\/a> <\/b><b>on<\/b><b>&nbsp;<\/b><b>aid effectiveness<\/b>, in particular the 2005 Paris Declaration and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action, which were organised as aid donors realised that the current donor landscape is not conducive to delivering on the MDGs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The 2005 summit started from a very technocratic point of view, and formulated a set of principles and mechanisms for greater donor coordination: the idea was to make \u201coverseas aid\u201d more effective. The 2008 summit, rightly, broadened the discussion, and looked at how to get better at bringing about \u201cDevelopment\u201d (not just do aid better), and how to get \u201ccivil society\u201d involved. At the Accra summit, Governments realised that to \u201cmake poverty history\u201d, the international community must do more to address the root causes of poverty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Since then, <b>NGOs and citizen groups from around the world have been working together<\/b> to articulate their view of what \u201caddressing the root causes of poverty effectively\u201d means. These discussions resulted in the formulation of the <b>Istanbul Principles on Development Effectiveness<\/b> and the <b>Siem Reap Framework for Action<\/b> \u2013 both documents well worth a read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">What these documents say, in essence, is that \u201cDevelopment\u201d cannot be delivered from the outside, and that \u201cPoverty\u201d is not merely a lack of money, food or shelter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/shared\/files\/2\/dochas_guide_on_irish_development_ngos.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cPoverty\u201d is not a lack of material goods<\/a><\/b>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To be poor is also to lack control over one\u2019s life and resources. <\/li>\n<li>Poverty is not simply a matter of scarcity: it is the result of human interaction. People keep other people poor. <\/li>\n<li>Poverty is exclusion \u2013 from social, economic and political processes that affect one\u2019s life. <\/li>\n<li>Poverty is political \u2013 reflecting inequality and injustice. <\/li>\n<li>Poverty is indignity. Poverty is the denial of access to the resources, capabilities, security and power that people need in order to realise their human right to live with dignity. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">And the inverse, \u201cDevelopment\u201d is the continual provision to the well-being of a country\u2019s entire population and of all individuals: This term refers not just to economic development or, narrower still, economic growth. Development is about reversing poverty and inequality, increasing the choices and opportunities available to the poor, and protecting their human rights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"><b><a href=\"#\">\u201cOverseas Aid\u201d, then, is not just about service delivery<\/a><\/b>. Rather, it is about bringing down the costs of, and the barriers to, participation in essential services (health, education) and in economic and political life. <b>Development is essentially a political process whereby poor people are empowered to claim their rights<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The role of NGOs in this process is to enable participation in political and social processes (at home, and abroad!), and to support citizens in their efforts to breach the monopoly of power and end marginalisation of large sections of the population. Instead of focusing on delivering the services that poor people cannot obtain, NGOs should try and ensure their access to those services, and to jobs, and to protect people when they are seeking to claim their right to those.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The <b><a href=\"http:\/\/dochasnetwork.wordpress.com\/2010\/12\/28\/the-ngo-of-the-future\/\" target=\"_blank\">NGOs that work in this way<\/a><\/b> will not be the \u201cwhites in shining armour\u201d so loved by Western media. Instead, they will be Facilitators, Transition Managers and Behind-The-Scenes-Supporters. Such NGOs will make it their mission to be embedded in local civil society, and to provide the \u201cenabling environment\u201d for local citizens\u2019 initiatives to reach their goals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"><b><a href=\"http:\/\/dochasnetwork.wordpress.com\/2011\/05\/25\/an-ode-to-effective-ngos\/\" target=\"_blank\">Effective NGOs<\/a><\/b> should be connectors &#038; bridge builders: between citizens, governments, companies, academics, consumers. Rather than running their own, stand-alone, projects, <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/shared\/files\/4\/strategic-framework[1].pdf\" target=\"_blank\">these NGOs seek to work through alliances, hybrid networks and coalitions<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">And these NGOs should be supported in their work. <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/dataoecd\/56\/3\/48784967.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">As a recent OECD study has pointed out, when it comes to supporting NGOs, institutional donors make all the right noises, but actually don\u2019t fund the type of NGO work that they say they like<\/a><\/b>! And they <b>don\u2019t really help to create the space for NGOs to do that work<\/b>, either&nbsp;(Reality of Aid study). Similarly, most citizens donating to NGOs are more interested in the <b><a href=\"http:\/\/dochasnetwork.wordpress.com\/2011\/09\/19\/ngo-overhead-costs\/\" target=\"_blank\">level of administration costs<\/a><\/b> than the real impact of the organisation they support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">It seems that when it comes to NGO work, donors want to pay for \u201clife saving\u201d projects, but not for the type of programmes that bring about real, lasting change for poor people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">If the upcoming Busan summit can address that issue, then it will really have made a contribution to the international \u201caid effectiveness\u201d debate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"><i>A version of this post originally appeared on <a href=\"http:\/\/dochasnetwork.wordpress.com\/2011\/10\/13\/making-aid-more-effective-base-it-on-people-power\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Dochas Network&#8217;s blog <\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"credit\">Photo credit main picture: Melbourne Sound Relief, Rainbow Brigade, by Alexander Kesselaar www.alexkess.com<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<!-- body -->\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<section class=\"commentform content column wide left\">\n<div class=\"disqus_content\">\n\t\t\t<a name=\"comments\" id=\"comments\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"disqus_thread\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\t\t\t\t\/* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * *\/\n\t\t\t\tvar disqus_shortname = 'broker'; 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