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Understanding NGO Strategies to Engage with Donor-Funded Development Projects: Reconciling and Differentiating Objectives

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Abstract

Much of the literature on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) problematises the relationship between donors and NGOs in terms of the control the former exercise over the latter. This leaves other aspects of a rich and varied relationship relatively unexplored. The aim of this article is to highlight the agency of civil society actors to promote an agenda independent of donor interests. The reactions of Turkish NGOs to the policy agenda and financial support put forward by the European Union suggest two main motivations for NGO engagement with the process: negotiating access to material resources and participating in the politics of representation. Out of this engagement emerges a typology of four strategies labelled ‘translation’, ‘brokerage’, ‘navigation’ and ‘agonism’. These strategies reflect contrasting means of turning resources – both financial and ideopolitical – into the capacity to realise organisational objectives.

Abstract

La plupart de la littérature sur les ONG (organisations non-gouvernementales) problématise la relation entre les donneurs et les ONG en termes du contrôle que les ONG ont sur les donneurs. Ceci n’explore pas les autres aspects de cette relation si riche et variée. Le but de cet article c’est de souligner l’action des acteurs de la société civile dans la promotion d’un agenda indépendant des intérêts des donneurs. Les réactions des ONG Turques à l’agenda politique et au support économique promu par l’Union Européenne suggèrent deux raisons principales pour l’engagement des ONG avec ce procès: la négociation d’accès aux ressources matérielles, et la participation aux politiques de représentation. Une typologie émerge de cet engagement: quatre stratégies, nommées ‘traduction’, ‘intermédiation’, ‘navigation’, et ‘agonisme’. Ces stratégies réfléchissent les formes contrastantes dans lesquelles on transforme des ressources – soit financières qu’idéo-politiques – dans la capacité de réaliser objectifs organisationnels.

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Notes

  1. The CFCU has responsibility for the overall budgeting, tendering, contracting, payments, accounting and financial reporting of all EU funded programmes in Turkey.

  2. Interview with the director of CSDC, Ankara, 7 August 2007.

  3. Interview with the director of CFCU, Ankara, 27 June 2008.

  4. Interview with a member of the EU Delegation, Ankara, 3 April 2007.

  5. Interview with the director of CSDC, Ankara, 7 August 2007.

  6. Interview with the director of a human rights NGO, Istanbul, 24 June 2008.

  7. Interview with a member of a women’s NGO, Diyarbakir, 2 July 2008.

  8. Interview with a member of a women’s NGO, Ankara, 3 April 2008.

  9. Interview with a member of a human rights NGO, Diyarbakir, 1 July 2008.

  10. Interview with a member of a women’s NGO, Ankara, 1 April 2008.

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  1. School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, UK

    Markus Ketola

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Ketola, M. Understanding NGO Strategies to Engage with Donor-Funded Development Projects: Reconciling and Differentiating Objectives. Eur J Dev Res 28, 479–494 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2015.17

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