civil society

While recently visiting sub-grantees of the BOTA Foundation in Almaty, Kazakhstan, I met a group of young adults who are developing their professional talents, despite never having had attended school and rarely having had the opportunities to leave their homes.  It is not that Almaty lacks schools; there are many schools of high quality that are developing a skilled workforce that is supporting their country’s economic growth.  Nor are they excluded from the education system based on their ethnic or linguistic aff

Last week, I attended a discussion on sectoral approaches to encouraging civil society in countries that may not be amenable to civic participation or criticism. The idea was that civic participation could be encouraged by NGOs and CSOs that focus on the provision of services that governments cannot provide, rather than focus on advocacy or watchdog activities often associated with, but only part of, civil society.

I recently returned from a brief and productive trip to the Middle East looking at the existing portfolio of programs IREX implements in the region and exploring possibilities for new opportunities.

Having recently come across an essay by former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios, I’ve been thinking a lot about what contributes to a successful civil society program. In the piece, Mr. Natsios argues – strongly – that accountability mechanisms originally designed to measure the impact of democracy and governance programs have become over emphasized to the point where they actually interfere with achieving development goals.

I’m writing this week from Rwanda, where I’m working on our Civil Society Strengthening Project. Although the project is not specifically focused on conflict, working with our staff and meeting with many Rwandans has given me the opportunity to think about the different ways we describe conflict programming – and how all of them are insufficient.

When IREX asked me to be on its team of writers for its new blog, I fairly jumped at the chance. To be part of an ongoing conversation and – if this isn’t too grand – a community of practice on international development sounded exciting to me.

But when I began to think concretely about civil society topics, I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of possibilities. Several of my colleagues helped me to brainstorm subjects related to civil society, which you can see in the word cloud below.