This paper provides an overview of the civil society policy of a range of multilateral and bilateral donors. It finds that donors have moved away from their initial tendency to equate civil society with NGOs. Donors are using a number of different approaches to reach out to a broader range of Southern civil society organisations. However, there may be a tension between the aid effectiveness agenda and donors’ desire to support a diverse and vibrant civil society.
Donors’ current approaches to civil society have been informed by the Paris Declaration of 2005, which emphasised the principles of national ownership, alignment, donor harmonisation, managing for results and mutual accountability. These principles were reaffirmed by the Accra Agenda for Action of 2008, which stressed the need for civil society to participate in national policy formulation, the need to create an enabling environment for civil society, the need for a focus on results, and the importance of civil society autonomy.
In terms of funding CSOs, multilateral donors have distributed funds via country offices or by establishing grant-making funds. Some bilateral donors are becoming less reliant on international NGOs from their home countries, and have encouraged these organisations to devolve more responsibility to Southern partners. Some bilateral donors have increased core funding of Southern CSOs.
In terms of approaches to civil society, bilateral donors have become more focused on supporting the development of strong civil societies in the South. Multilateral donors focus on allowing civil society to have a greater agenda-setting role. Most donors now support civil society organisations (CSOs) to become involved in policy dialogue both at the country level and globally. Issues emerging include the following:
- The forms of support donors use make a difference to strengthening the capacity, autonomy and diversity of civil society. In order to reach a diverse range of CSOs, donors should use a range of support mechanisms.
- Donors should examine the forms of support they use to work with civil society more closely. For example, the impact of using in-country multi-donor funds on civil society diversity should be scrutinised. Although this mechanism may help to encourage better harmonisation, it may also strengthen larger organisations and weaken the diversity of civil society.
- Mechanisms for engaging with and representing civil society still tend to favour large organisations and umbrella organisations. This risks excluding the voices of smaller CSOs.
- The impact of donors’ support for civil society is difficult to measure. Some of the most important work relating to civil society is done outside donors’ civil society departments. Some bilateral donors are developing more flexible and holistic approaches to monitoring civil society support.
More research should be conducted into how far donor consultations with civil society have actually gone. It is important to explore:
- The effectiveness of different funding mechanisms for supporting various forms of CSOs, and various roles of civil society
- The strengths and weaknesses of different types of intermediaries to fund and engage with civil society
- How donors can genuinely support civil society diversity.
