This Lecture comprises of three main parts
Part 1: NGOs and International Cooperation
In this Part of the Lecture we will:
Part 2: The International Obligations of States
In this part of the lecture we will focus on the obligation of Developed Countries to devote 0.7% of their GNI to Development Cooperation.
Part 3: Local Experiences in Development Cooperation
In this part of the lecture we will focus on local NGOs and their experiences of International Development Cooperation.
Part 1: NGOs and International Cooperation
1. A Brief History of NGOs and International Cooperation
Organizations separate from the state have existed in many historical settings, but NGOs are primarily a modern phenomenon.
With the extension of citizenship rights in Europe and the Americas in the 18th and 19th centuries people founded increasing numbers of these organizations:
as instruments to meet community needs;
defend interests;
or promote new policies.
The anti-slavery movement, founded in England in the late 18th century, gave rise to many such organizations and eventually led to the World Anti-Slavery Convention (1840), a milestone gathering to coordinate the work of citizen organizations on an international basis.
The World Alliance of YMCAs was founded soon after, in 1855, and the International Committee for the Red Cross came into being in 1863.
During the nineteenth century independent associations addressed many issues including:
women’s rights;
the condition of the poor;
alcohol abuse; and
municipal reform.
Trade unions emerged as a leading force in the NGO movement later in the century.
2. Operational Scope of NGOs
Today, NGOs address every conceivable issue and they operate in virtually every part of the globe.
Most NGOs operate within a single country and frequently they function within a purely local setting.
Thousands of organizations are active at the international level. According to one estimate, some 25,000 now qualify as international NGOs (with programs and affiliates in a number of countries) – up from less than 400 a century ago.
Amnesty International, for example, has more than a million members and it has affiliates or networks in over 90 countries and territories. Its London-based International Secretariat has a staff of over 300 which carries out research, coordinates worldwide lobbying and maintains an impressive presence at many international conferences and institutions.
N.B. NGOs are often seen as synonymous with non-profits, but a distinction between the two is useful. Non-profits include a very wide range of organizations, including museums, universities, and hospitals, that focus on services and rarely (if ever) engage in advocacy. By contrast, NGOs always have an important advocacy mission.
3. Increasing Influence of NGOs in International Policy
The use of the term non state actors in reference to NGOs suggests that they have an increasing influence in the international policy arena where previously only states played a significant role. Though NGOs have few formal powers over international decision-making, they have many accomplishments to their credit. Some analysts believe that these successes resulted from increasing globalization and the pressure of ordinary citizens to control and regulate the world beyond the nation state.
NGO work on the environment led to the adoption of the Montreal Protocol on Substances Depleting the Ozone Layer in 1987.
The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, an NGO coalition, was prime mover in the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997.
The Coalition for an International Criminal Court was indispensable to the adoption of the 1998 Treaty of Rome.
NGO mobilization forced governments to abandon secret negotiations for the Multilateral Agreement on Investments in 1998.
The Jubilee 2000 Campaign changed thinking and policy on poor countries’ debt.
An increasingly influential international NGO campaign demanded more just economic policies from the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
These recent NGO victories have often been due to effective use of the internet, enabling rapid mobilization of global constituencies.
The Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 set the pace for intense NGO participation in world conferences, with 17,000 NGO representatives participating in the NGO parallel forum and 1,400 directly involved in the intergovernmental negotiations. NGOs helped make the conference a success, claimed an important place in the conference declaration and played a key role in developing post-conference institutions, like the Commission on Sustainable Development. Three years later, the Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995 attracted an astonishing 35,000 NGO representatives to Beijing to the parallel forum and 2,600 to the intergovernmental negotiations.
4. NGOs and Networking
Governments and international organizations at times find NGOs a nuisance or even threatening to their interests. But officials nonetheless look to NGOs for innovative ideas and information. Officials also grudgingly recognize that consultation with (and support from) NGOs gives their public decisions more credibility.
As NGOs take an increasingly important role in political life, some critics are concerned that NGOs speak in many different and conflicting voices, that can fragment and weaken political action. Often, there are many competing NGOs in the same policy field and their mutual contest for influence can undercut political effectiveness. Many respected NGOs work hard to overcome this narrowness by operating in close partnership with others. Some NGOs themselves specialize in coalition-building. Interaction, for instance, serves as the umbrella for dozens of humanitarian organizations in the United States.
5. Globalization and the International Calling of NGOs
NGOs have been most effective when they work together in coalitions, pooling their resources and coordinating their lobbying efforts. There are important NGO networks on the environment and on international economic policy that allow NGOs to coordinate their actions in many countries and at international conferences and negotiations.
In 1995, an international consultation of NGO networks concluded that: “Business and government are organized at the international level. There is a growing need to articulate countervailing visions."
National states are overtaxed in dealing with global problems such as climate change, migration flows, increasing poverty in many parts of the world, environmental degradation, international terrorism and the drugs trade. Globalization has created both cross-border issues that NGOs address and cross-border communities of interest that NGOs represent. National governments cannot do either task as effectively or as legitimately. In the globalizing world of the twenty-first century, NGOs will have a growing international calling.
Part 2: The International Obligations of States
1. The UN target for Development Cooperation
The UN target is for each developed country to devote 0.7% of its Gross National Income to Development Cooperation. This target is not being respected. For example the total proportion of GNI paid by all of the EU countries was 0.33 %last year.
2. The UN target and the EUThe EU donor countries fall into three increasingly distinctive categories.
- Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Luxemburg form the lead four. They have reached the 0.7 percent level in their development co-operation payments. Last year Denmark allocated over one percent of its GNI to development co-operation.
- The second group includes Finland and most other EU countries: last year’s development co-operation payments ranged from Belgium’s 0.36 percent share of GNI to Spain’s 0.24 percent. Finland settled at the 0.31 percent level with Great Britain, and 0.01 percent ahead of Ireland. Both Great Britain and Ireland have announced their plans to rapidly increase their development co-operation grants.
- The third category of EU donors includes Greece and Italy with 0.19 and 0.13 percent shares of GNI respectively.
The European Union’s development council demands EU countries to fulfill their commitment to increase their grants for development co-operation. The development council suggests that the EU Commission, together with the member states, settle the timetable with which each country reaches the UN target of 0.7 percent of gross national income (GNI).
Part 3: Local Experiences in Development Cooperation
Various Organisations in Malta are active in International Cooperation.
- The Third World Group has traditionally been sending short term volunteers abroad for the past 25 years. The localities have included both marginalised communities in Europe such as the Rom of Reggio Calabria as well as marginalised communities in the majority world such as in villages in Tunis.
- Voluntiera Lajci Missjunarji is active in sending long term volunteers in the majority world.
- Koperattiva Kummerc Gust (KKG) is active in Fair Trade. It cooperates with various disadvantaged producers in the majority world. In order to reach its aims better KKG collaborates closely with more experienced and well resourced Fair Trade Organisations. KKG is a member of the International Federation of Alternative Trade.
- Maltese organisations have often cooperated closely with international Networks. The Jesuit Refugee Service has been active in the international campaign to ban landmines. Kopin (Koperazzjoni Internazzjonali - Malta) has participated in the the Jubilee 2000 campaign.
- Certain local organisations have eventually decided to become members of International NGOs. For example Zghazagh ghall-Ambjent opted to become the local branch of Friends of the Earth. They have subsequently cooperated on international projects such as a project on Sustainable Europe.