Changing Contours of Development Cooperation: What Roles for Civil Society?

The accumulated fault lines in the Development Cooperation (DC) could not be more discernible than at the time of global pandemic. The richer countries in the Global North and the aspirant rich countries in the Global South when hoarding the COVID-19 vaccines, the people in major parts of the Global South were struggling to survive in fear and frustrations. The obnoxious exhibition of ‘vaccine nationalism’ and ‘vaccine apartheidism’ not only belied principles of DC but also decoded the disingenuity to uphold human rights, globally. Despite rhetoric, the economic and technological inequalities between the countries of Global North and Global South continue.
 
Over the last 75 years, the promises and prospects of DC have been challenged time and again in the face of multiple global crises. The economic crises in multiple forms, the environment, climate and natural disasters, and the human insecurities arising out of conflicts and aggressions have adversely affected human progress. The Global Governance Institutions (GGIs) which were tasked to find innovative solutions to these global issues, often became the sources of many of these problems. The fundamental changes in many parts of the world outpaced the ability of many GGIs to evolve and reinvigorate their archaic architectures and processes. The net result has been a colossal loss of faith in Multilateralism.
 
The adoption of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been a triumph of DC and considered to be a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Its commitment to ‘Leave No One Behind’ must be at the front and centre of all forms of DC. However, the impact of pandemic on public health and economy poses greater challenges which necessitate DC to be more effective and equitable.
 
Over the last five decades, civil society has played myriad roles in making DC inclusive and effective. It provides information to both citizens and government. It monitors government policies and programmes and holds government accountable. It provides innovative solutions to development problems and engages in advocacy to offer alternative policies and solutions for government, the private sector, and other institutions. It delivers services, especially to the poor and underserved. It defends citizen rights and contributes to change and uphold social norms and behaviours, among others. In addition to engaging with national and sub-national governance institutions, civil society also engages with global governance and inter-governmental institutions for providing information, advocating for policy changes, and holding these institutions accountable to their mandates.
 
With changing policies and priorities of many national and global governance institutions, the civil society is often at crossroads. The declining resources and spaces make these engagements even more challenging for civil society and therefore adding to the exclusion of voices from the community in policy making and programme designing by the stewards of DC. The growing importance of south-south cooperation (SSC) and efforts towards Triangular Cooperation (TrC) holds promises to make DC more inclusive. The civil society’s role in both could be crucial in the coming years.
 
Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) has been providing stewardship to the civil society engagement, particularly from the Global South, since its inception. It has provided intellectual leadership to the global discourses on Education for All,  Participation of Primary Stakeholders, Capacity Building of Southern NGOs, Democratic Local Governance, and many other development and governance issues by engaging with the principal actors of DC, globally and locally.
 
As PRIA completes 40 years of its impactful journey, we are convening a number of conversations with communities, partners, experts, policy-makers. As part of a series of Conversations on Empowering Civil Society, PRIA in partnership with Forum for Indian Development Cooperation (FIDC) is organising a Virtual Symposium on "Changing Contours of Development Cooperation: What Roles for Civil Society?”on 29 November 2021 between 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm (Indian Time).
 
This Symposium will explore the following key questions:

• What strategies would make Development Cooperation more responsive and accountable for attaining SDGs and Climate Goals in the post-pandemic recovery and resilience?
• What roles civil society must play to make Development Cooperation inclusive, effective and equitable? What strategies would enable meaningful engagement of civil society with the global governance institutions?

Panelists:

• Prof Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS)
• Ms Julia Sanchez, Chair, CIVICUS
• Ms Anabel Cruz, Founder Director, Communication and Development Institute (ICD) of Uruguay
• Mr Paul Okumu, Head, Secretariat, Africa Platform
• Prof Sook Jong Lee, Professor, Sungkyunkwan University and Former President and Senior Fellow of East Asia Institute, South Korea
• Dr Susana Moorhead, Chair, OECD Development Assistance Committee
• Dr Kumi Naidoo, Professor of Practice at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, USA (Former Secretary General, Amnesty International and Former Director, Greenpeace International)
• Dr Kaustuv Kanti Bandyopadhyay, Director, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India

Moderator:

• Dr Rajesh Tandon, Founder President, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India

For more detailed webinar report: Click here

For webinar recording: Click here