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Regional or Global CSO Network and Support Organisations
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The African
Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) is a network that
brings cooperation agencies and experts together with national
and regional institutions working in various areas of development.
Based in Harare, Zimbabwe, the foundation is an independent,
capacity-building institution established in 1991 through
the collaborative efforts of three multilateral institutions
(the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, and
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)), African
governments and bilateral donors. ACBF addresses capacity
needs in the area of macroeconomic policy analysis and development
management through the African Capacity Building Trust Fund,
and works in 14 African countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius,
Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe).
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| The Association of Latin
American Development Organizations (ALOP) is composed of
NGOs from 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its
main objective is the construction of a dialogue space, to strengthen
NGOs and their capacity to influence policy process in the region
and globally. The association, founded in 1979, is part of a
broader network of institutions and networks involved in global
policy process. Its main projects are the programme of strategic
alliances for local development in Latin America, and the promotion
and strengthening of the participation of civil society in the
political dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Latin
America. |
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| The Asian NGO Coalition
for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC), founded
in 1979, is a regional NGO association of 21 national and regional
NGO networks from 11 Asian countries actively engaged in food
security, agrarian reform, sustainable agriculture and rural
development activities. ANGOC has developed skills in linking
grassroots action with macro-policy interventions. This competence
is highlighted in its past projects: the Citizen's Campaign
on the Asian Development Bank; and People's Participation in
UNCED and Beyond. To respond to the growing demands of the NGO
sector, ANGOC continually designs and implements strategic interventions
to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness in regional development.
ANGOC organises specialised courses, conferences and activities,
in coordination with training institutions. It is also involved
in a number of global, regional and national networks and coalitions
in the programme areas of the institution: food security, agrarian
reform, sustainable agriculture and people's participation and
rural development. |
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| The Association for Research
on Non-profit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA)
is a community of people dedicated to fostering the creation,
application and dissemination of knowledge on voluntary action,
non-profit organisations and philanthropy through research.
Among its initiative, the social Entrepreneurship Enterprise
Section (SEES) is the most relevant. Its mission is to facilitate
interaction among ARNOVA members who are interested in increasing
the level of research, debate, and understanding regarding organisations,
projects, and activities / initiatives associated with social
entrepreneurship and / or social enterprise. |
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| The Brazilian Association
of NGOs (Associacao Brasileira de Organizacoes Nao Governamentais,
ABONG) was created to represent and promote relations between
NGOs dedicated to the strengthening of civil society and the
promotion of democracy. Its strategies involve: improving the
capacity of civil society to participate in public policy process;
action in the public space in representation of civil society;
searching for new partnership models; strengthening networking
initiatives nationally and in Latin America; and promoting a
communications policy to showcase the actions of ABONG and its
members. ABONG organised the last World Social Forum in Brazil
as part of its action plan. |
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| The Centre
for Civil Society at LSE (CCS) is a leading, international
organisation for research, analysis, debate and learning about
civil society. Its value derives from the wide range of disciplines
covered by its staff, research associates and visiting fellows:
social policy; anthropology; political science; development
studies; law; sociology; international relations; and economics.
It also publishes the Global Civil Society yearbook and hosts
and promotes academic publications, public lectures, seminars,
roundtables and conferences, that bring together academics,
policymakers, practitioners and activists. |
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CIVICUS is an international
alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil
society throughout the world. Its main objectives are: (i) Civic
Existence - to promote the rights of citizens to organise and
act collectively towards defined goals for the public good;
(ii) Civic Expression - to increase the effectiveness and improve
the governance of civil society organisations, as well as their
capacity to set and achieve their individual and collective
goals; (iii) Civic Engagement - to foster interaction between
civil society and other institutions in order to increase the
voice of citizens in public life. CIVICUS runs a number of relevant
programmes and the CIVICUS Assemblies are a major gathering.
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| The Council for
the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
is an independent Pan-African research organisation with a primary
focus on the social sciences, broadly defined. CODESRIA works
with civil society by building capacity, coordinating networking
events and opportunities, promoting research and research capacity,
and disseminating research results. |
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| The Eastern and Southern
Africa NGO Reflection and Development Centre (MWENGO) aims
to strengthen the technical and managerial capacity of NGO staff
to be able to design, plan, implement and manage programmes
that utilise resources efficiently and are more responsive and
accountable to their constituencies. It also aims to build the
capacity of NGOs to influence the policy process and participate
in policymaking. Its key strategies include linkages and networking,
research and development and communications. |
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ESRC's
Non-Governmental Public Action programme is a unique opportunity
to further understand the impact of non-governmental public
action in reducing poverty and exclusion, and in social transformation,
from an international comparative and multi-disciplinary perspective.
Public action by and for disadvantaged people, undertaken
by non-governmental organisations and other actors, is increasingly
significant at local and international levels. The focus of
the programme is not just on NGOs, but on a broader range
of formal and informal non-governmental actors concerned with
poverty reduction and social transformation. These might include
advocacy networks, campaigns and coalitions, trades unions,
peace groups, social forums, rights-based groups, social movements
and business in the community initiatives.
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The Ford Foundation's
mission is to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and
injustice, promote international cooperation and advance human
achievement. The Ford Foundation has three major programme areas
- Asset Building and Community Development, Peace and Social
Justice, and Education, Media, Arts and Culture. Although not
explicity inolved in capacity-building projects, the Foundation
has funded capacity building work, including some IDRC capacity-building
initiatives (e.g. for a regional research network on environmental
health in the Middle East). It is also involved in the Partnership
to Strengthen African Universities (a joint programme with the
Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller Foundation
and the MacArthur Foundation). See also funding
opportunities with the Ford Foundation's International Fellowships
Program.
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| The Global Development Network
(GDN) was established in 1998, with the goal of supporting and
linking research and policy institutes involved in the field
of development and whose work is predicated on the notion that
ideas matter. RAPNet is the web site of GDN's
Bridging Research and Policy Project. It is a network for
researchers and policymakers to share information, and to discuss
and learn about how to improve the links between development
research and policy. The project synthesises existing knowledge,
commissions new research and produces lessons, recommendations
and practical tools for researchers and policymakers. |
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| The Hauser Center
for Non-profit Organizations is an interdisciplinary research
centre at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
University. The centre aims to illuminate the vital role that
the non-profit sector and nongovernmental organisations play
in aiding societies to discover and accomplish important public
purposes. The areas of focus are CSO strengthening; practitioner
engagement; and CSO-sector relations. They carry out research
and executive education, and work closely with CIVICUS. |
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The Institute for Development
Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex hosts several
useful resources including: (i) The Development Research Centre
on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability: an international
research partnership exploring new forms of citizenship that
will help make rights real for poor people; (ii) LogoLink: a
global network of practitioners from civil society organisations,
research institutions and governments working to deepen democracy
through greater citizen participation in local governance; (iii)
The Environment team works on policy processes and policy learning
as related to livelihoods and environmental issues; (iv) The
Information Unit: id21 is a fast-track research reporting service
and ELDIS is a gateway to information on development issues,
providing free and easy access to wide range of high quality
online resources.
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| The International NGO Training
and Resource Centre (INTRAC) supports NGOs and CSOs around
the world by exploring policy issues, and strengthening management
and organisational effectiveness. Strengthening civil society
is a key operational interest for INTRAC. Organisational capacity
development involves identifying strategies for capacity building
through practice and research, working in partnerships with
local support organisations and seeking ways to increase their
sustainability. As a support NGO, INTRAC also aims to develop
methodologies that increase the participation of clients and
beneficiaries of development interventions, e.g. participatory
contextual analysis, PRAs, monitoring and evaluation, and impact
assessment. |
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| The International
Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTSR) is the main global
research network on civil society with over 750 members. Its
biennial conference is important for learning, networking and
promoting PPA-relevant work (the Toronto conference had 450
people from around the world). The Toronto Conference site with
programme, abstracts, etc. is at www.istr.org/conferences/toronto/index.html.
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The Johns Hopkins University
- Centre for Civil Society Studies seeks to encourage the
development and effective operation of non-profit, philanthropic,
or 'civil society' organisations, carrying out its work through
a combination of research, training, and information-sharing
both in the United States and throughout the world. Its initiatives
include: (i) The Third Sector Project that provides practical
'enablement training' in non-profit management and citizen participation
to emerging non-profit leaders throughout the world; (ii) The
New Governance Project which is developing a set of teaching
materials that can equip non-profit, government, and business
leaders to design and operate the many new tools of public action.
The centre's publications include a UN non-profits management
handbook, comparative non-profit sector working papers and other
bulletins.
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| The Kellogg Foundation
focuses its work on building the capacity of individuals, communities,
and institutions to solve their own problems. An important and
relevant programme is its Philanthropy and Volunteerism programme.
In Latin America, the foundation works to promote leadership
and civil society strengthening. It is also involved in the
promotion of tools for development including communication,
evaluation and policy tools. |
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| The Open Society Institute
(OSI) serves as the hub of the Soros Foundation Network, a group
of autonomous foundations and organisations in more than 50
countries. OSI and the network implement a range of initiatives
that aim to promote open societies by shaping government policy
and supporting education, media, public health, and human and
women's rights, as well as social, legal, and economic reform.
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| The Society
for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) is a civil society
organisation in South Asia that undertakes development initiatives
to impact on the lives of the poor by encouraging and enabling
their participation in policy processes by means of capacity
building, knowledge building and policy advocacy. Two broad
categories of interventions are undertaken by PRIA and partners:
(i) Strengthening Civil Society by developing and strengthening
leaders among the poor; (ii) Reforming Governance institutions
by sensitising, orienting and building the capacity of elected
representatives and officials to respond to the voices of civil
society. It is an approach that addresses both the demand and
supply of evidence based policymaking. It uses various tools
including publication of a wide range of educational and academic
books and journals, direct interventions, context monitoring
through the media, and annual reports.
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The Southern
Africa Trust was established in 2005 to support civil
society organisations in southern Africa to participate effectively
and with credibility in policy dialogue so that the voices
of the poor can have a better impact in the development of
public policies. It aims to support development innovation
by strengthening the voice of poor people in public policy
processes to reduce poverty and inequality in Southern Africa
in ways that promote regional linkages and a regional agenda.
See also funding opportunities with
the Southern Africa Trust.
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