Donnison, David (1993): The challenge of urban regeneration for community development Community Development Journal 28/4 pp293-298
Large, Judith (2001): The Interplay of Domestic, regional and international Forces in Peacebuilding Politics CCTS Newsletter No.13 Committee for Conflict Transformation Support
Wood, Geof D (1985): The politics of development policy labelling - essays in honour of Bernard Schaffer Development and Change Vol 16 pp347-373
Possible questions for discussion
a) Regarding 'civil society'
How far can civil society be a good thing? Is the balance 20/80 bad with good, or 50/50? How do or should we cope with the 'negative' interests in civil society? Can funders and agencies afford to clarify their criteria for selection of support in post war situations? Civil society is best seen as a duality with Government in the widest sense. However because the vagueness with which people use the term leaves it no potential for contributing to analysis, would a term such as 'local institutions' serve the same purpose with less confusion?
b) Regarding NGOs
If you remove the ideological aspirations behind attempts to promote positive support for NGOs, do we have clear evidence that they have real potential to contribute to peacebuilding? What does the evidence indicate is the key to the success of certain organisations or structures? Have we ignored the potential of local government? Is working with civil society organisations fundamentally undemocratic or even likely to undermine equitable participatory democracy?
c) Regarding accountability and legitimacy of local activities to build peace
Accountability to local people is a difficult area. NGOs can only gain or claim legitimacy for their actions to a limited extent. What does or would make NGOs legitimate in peacebuilding? Given Judith Large's affirmation that what happens is to do with politics and power, to whom are NGOs truly accountable? Who should they be accountable to, given local conflict between groups?
d) Regarding INGOs and funders
Is there any way INGOs and funders can avoid relying on objective standards in selection and support, given the realities of diplomacy, politics, staff and resource constraints and law? Are the procedures that INGOs and funders use and require local NGOs to use in their management aiding the work of local NGOs, and if not, is there any action that a network such as CCTS can take?
e) Regarding local people
How far do outsiders, including ourselves, believe local people to be capable of building peace? Can outsiders support NGOs in order to contribute to this? How far are we looking at local people as 'the others'?
Sarah Crowther, November 2001
Seminar Notes
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