Key Problems in the Interaction between Donors and Civil Society Organizations: Some Evidence from HIV and AIDS Work

• The purpose of this report is to provide a short summary of a workshop conducted in March 2012 with representatives from 14 civil society organizations coming from 6 South African provinces. The report raises points of concern that the workshop participants identified and illustrate them with some of the stories that they told. Some of the problems that the report describes from the perspective of recipient organization are: (i) narrowly defined funding programmes - which are increasingly designed as service level agreements rather than grants - often diverge the attention of CBOs away from what they originally set out to do; (ii) increased reporting requirements systematically lead to funds being disbursed late, causing implementing organizations to halt their work until the money arrives that allows them to pay salaries and buy material; (iii) recipient organization are increasingly faced with short term (6-12 months) contracts, even if the funded program or project is planned for a longer period of time; (iv) donors are extremely reluctant to provide core funding or to fund overhead costs, forcing civil society organizations to engage in for-profit activities in order to cover its costs; (v) donors have an exaggerated interest in numbers and seem to forestall story-telling about issues unrelated to the funded project; (vi) decision makers are inaccessible due to increased centralization of decision-making power in European and American capitals; (vii) representatives of South Africa government departments are often disorganized, incompetent, and arrogant when interacting with recipient organizations.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Globaliseringsstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Globalisation Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

development cooperation; South Africa; donor-recipient relationships; funding; communication; reporting

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