NGOs as Advocates for Development in a Globalising World

285 Pages·2007·1.79 MB·English

by  Barb Rugendyke

NGOs as Advocates for Development
in a Globalising World
To maximise their impact, NGOs have globalised their operations and formed
new strategic alliances to increase the effectiveness of their advocacy. Histor-
ically, as a means of improving the life of people in disadvantaged communities,
Northern development NGOs primarily acted at the local scale in developing
nations. In the last decade, these NGOs have increasingly given resources
to advocacy campaigns directed at global and regional actors, including
multilateral banks, government and corporations. To date, there has been little
basis for gauging the extent to which NGOs’ advocacy work has contributed to
poverty alleviation.
This book traces this recent growth in NGO advocacy.Rugendykepresents
empirical findings about the impacts of NGO advocacy activity on the policies
and practices of global and regional institutions. Case studies illustrate the
advocacy work of Australian NGOs, of British NGOs’ policies about engaging
with multinationals, of Oxfam’sadvocacydirected at World Bank policies and
NGO advocacy in the Mekong Region.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this book examines the mixed
successes of advocacy as a strategy used by NGOs in attempting to address the
ongoing causes of poverty in developing nations. It will be a useful aid to
researchers, students and lecturers and to development practitioners interested
in advocacy as a development strategy.
Barbara Rugendyke is a Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University of
NewEngland, Armidale, Australia.

NGOs as Advocates for
Development in a
Globalising World
Edited by Barbara Rugendyke
First published 2007
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
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©2007 Barbara Rugendyke
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Acatalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-93921-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0–415–39530–5 (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0–415–39531–3 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0–203–93921–2 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978–0-415–39530–4 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0-415–39531–1 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0-203–93921–5 (ebk)
To Anya and David
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. . . .
Recognise that the world is hungry for action, not words. Act with courage and
vision.
... Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.
(Nelson Mandela, Trafalgar Square, 3 February 2005)

Contents
List of figures xi
List of tables xiii
List of contributors xv
Acknowledgements xix
List of acronyms and abbreviations xxi
1 Lilliputians or leviathans? NGOs as advocates 1
BARBARA RUGENDYKE
NGOs’ influence enlarged 5
Expanding horizons: globalising NGOadvocacy 7
PART I
Contesting global futures:from charity to challenge 15
2 Charity to advocacy: changing agendas of Australian NGOs 17
BARBARA RUGENDYKE AND CATHRYN OLLIF
The birth of a voluntary aid movement 17
Apost-war organisational boom 19
Anew era: coordination and cooperation 22
The politicisation of Australian NGO activity 23
The emergence of dualism in NGO functions 25
NGO/government cooperation 31
The 1980s 34
Australian NGOs as advocates 37
Australian advocacy campaigns 39
Alliances for advocacy 40
Official funding and advocacy 42
Across the generations 43
viii Contents
3 Speaking out: Australian NGOs as advocates 44
CATHRYN OLLIF
Introducing the NGOS 44
Advocacy in practice 47
Themes in Australian NGO advocacy 63
Future challenges for advocacy 65
Conclusion 66
PART II
Towards global equity?Internationalisation, Oxfam
and the World Bank 69
4 Global action: international NGOs and advocacy 71
IAN ANDERSON
Northern NGO advocacy 73
Oxfam International and its advocacy purpose 87
5 Oxfam, the World Bank and heavily indebted poor
countries 96
IAN ANDERSON
Oxfam and the HIPC initiative: a historical review 97
Linking HIPC relief and social expenditure: World Bank
policy overview 99
Box 5.1: Oxfam's debt relief and poverty reduction:
strengthening the linkage 101
Oxfam’s HIPC advocacy 103
The World Bank’spoverty-focused debt relief framework:
Oxfam’s analysis 105
Personal insights into HIPC history 107
Oxfam’sinfluence on HIPC policy 111
Oxfam’s Human Development Window proposals 112
Box5.2: Comments from World Bank personnel 113
Oxfam’s World Bank shareholder-oriented advocacy 117
The influence of Jubilee 2000 and other NGOs 118
Internal dynamics of the World Bank HDW proposals 120
Oxfam’s influence on the World Bank’s PRSP policy 120
Oxfam’s advocacy style 121
Conclusion 123
Contents ix
PART III
Ahesitant courtship:engaging the corporate sector 125
6 Confrontation, cooperation and co-optation: NGO advocacy
and corporations 127
JOHN SAYER
Ahesitant courtship: NGOs and corporations 127
NGO engagement with the corporate sector 131
New motivations for NGO engagement with companies 132
Engagement with NGOs: what’s in it for the companies? 136
Changing concepts of corporate responsibility 141
Forms of engagement: NGO–business interactions 143
Box 6.1: Criticisms of NGO involvement with codes of conduct 148
Policy challenges and NGO–corporate interaction 150
Policies for successful NGO–corporate interaction 153
7 Risks and rewards: NGOs engaging the corporate sector 156
JOHN SAYER
Development NGO policies on corporate engagement 156
The process of policy formation 157
Policy position on corporate social responsibility 158
Policies on causes and solutions to poverty 161
Encompassing gender issues 161
Box7.1:Corporate conduct and gender issues 162
Corporate relations with the NGO sector 163
Organisational relations with corporations 166
Internal tensions 179
Conclusion 180
PART IV
Dam(n)ing the Mekong?Banks, states, NGOs and the poor 183
8 Advocacy, civil society and the state in the Mekong Region 185
PHILIP HIRSCH
Advocacy in the Mekong: a differentiated landscape 187
Thailand: from community development to advocacy 189
Advocacy by other means? Influence in closed political spaces 194
Toward a Mekong civil society advocacy? 198