By Ken Caldwell In the last decade, we’ve seen dramatic growth in the scale and global influence of leading alliances of international non-government organisations (INGOs). The ten largest INGO alliances now generate around $8 billion dollars in income each year between them, and are increasingly being sought out as global partners by the public and [...]

By Steven Lawry Egypt’s civil society is small, though hardly ineffective.  Civil society organizations have been working bravely for decades on severe problems of poverty, human rights, and social disempowerment.  Official policies toward independent social action have been consistently hostile.  Laws governing nonprofit organizations impede the registration of organizations dedicated to charitable activity, especially where [...]

By Sujeet Kumar This week, the Business Standard, a leading Indian Business daily, announced the list of the “super-rich” in India. The list has 657 rupee and 45 dollar billionaires. This unprecedented wealth creation can be attributed to a host of factors such as the surging Indian economy, the unleashing of entrepreneurial spirit, and the [...]

By Jesse Wallin I recently had the chance to witness Haiti’s ongoing recovery efforts first-hand over the course of two weeks this past January.  I was working with Haiti Outreach an NGO which builds wells, water-systems and schools throughout the country.  During my time with Haiti Outreach, I was exposed to a variety of faith-based organizations [...]

By Ramesh Singh Keystone has just published NGO Partner Survey 2010 a report about the relationship between northern NGOs from high income countries and southern NGOs from mid and low income countries. The report is a presentation of response and ratings of more than 1000 southern NGOs about their bilateral relationships (partnerships) with 25 NGOs from [...]

By Sujeet Kumar In the last several years, there have been discussions and attempts to distinguish between social entrepreneurship and ‘plain vanilla’ charitable/NGO work. Semantics notwithstanding, I am myself, oftentimes, confused as to the real differences between the two. Oftentimes, charitable organizations survive at the mercy of their donors contributions, which can vary. A nonprofit [...]

By Sherine Jayawickrama Fighting poverty (or improving education or health outcomes, or enhancing rural livelihoods) is a complex process. Sometimes, in the process of making these complex issues accessible and compelling, NGOs make them sound easy to address.  Sponsor a child!  Give a loan!  Buy a goat!  Websites of NGOs and donor institutions alike are awash with success [...]

By Dr. Ramaswami Balasubramaniam Community participation is no longer a buzzword in development.  Decades ago, it was something that you spoke about and wrote in the proposals that one submitted to donor agencies.  Gradually, as many development NGOs began to understand and internalize the power and potential of this paradigm, they made it an integral [...]

By Jennifer Rubenstein Vision! Imagination! The ability to dream up new and better worlds!  Surely such capacities are essential for development practitioners.  Or are they?  “To imagine” is to make present to one’s mind that which is absent to one’s senses.  Imagination is in this way the opposite of perception: if I perceive a fire [...]

By John Coonrod Congressman Frank R. Wolf, of Virginia’s 10th district, recently made a bold proposal for what we (the ending world hunger and poverty crowd) need to do in this political environment. But first, some background. Thursday morning after the mid-term elections, the Alliance to End Hunger organized a fascinating presentation on Capitol Hill [...]