NGOs in Development

The NGO Study Group provides a forum for academics and researchers working on issues around civil society and development. The NGO Study Group has debated themes such as: research collaboration between academics and practitioners, NGOs and migration, local organisations and emergency relief, the ethnography of NGOs, and civil society and counter-terrorism.
An internet discussion forum, accessed via the INTRAC website, offers a private space for researchers to share their experiences and resources. Regular emails keep members informed of upcoming events. The study group has over 50 members.

If you interested in joining the NGO study mailing list and/or the internet forum then please contact:
Rachel Hayman, INTRAC
Susannah Pickering-Saqqa

DSA Annual Conference, 6 November 2013 - Call for Papers

“NGOs and Development Communications in the 21st Century”

There are clear indications that the issue of how and with whom development agencies and specifically NGOs communicate is moving up the agenda. These include the introduction and rapid growth of the Communication for Development (C4D) network and the increasing range of roles in NGOs for those with digital communication skills. 

Development NGOs have engaged with this debate through practice that reflects the full spectrum of understandings of C4D. Major international NGOs are increasingly making use of technologies such as Contact Record Management systems to take their supporters on “journeys” from casual engagement through to regular donors and campaigners. 

At a time when researchers are still teasing out the implications of the Kony2012 film (Beckett 2013) and critiquing the likely effectiveness of the IF campaign around the 2013 G8 development policy “asks”, it is important for NGOs to consider the implications of these wider C4D debates for their own practice. This panel seeks to engage with theoretical and empirical research by exploring NGO responses to these issues. We will invite papers that explore the following questions:

• How do development NGOs conceptualise and operationalise C4D?
• What empirical evidence is there for “dominant” and “participatory” approaches to C4D in NGOs?
• What are the factors that contribute to the adoption by NGOs of different approaches to C4D?
• Is there evidence from that participatory approaches to C4D are more likely to lead to sustainable outcomes?
• How can NGOs use participatory approaches to C4D to respond to the “results” agenda?
• What has been and is the attitude of donors to funding different approaches?
• What challenges do development NGOs face in evaluating their communications work?
• What structural constraints do NGOs face in seeking to mainstream participatory approaches to communications across their work?
• What evidence is there that communications work is marginalized by development NGOs into one-way messaging and public relations?
• How do development NGOs communicate with their peers?
• In what ways do digital technologies and social media constrain or liberate participatory approaches to communications in NGOs?
• How has the production and reception of international development news been affected by changes in development needs and new/social media?
• What challenges do NGOs face in developing the appropriate skill-set amongst staff and volunteers for participatory communications?

Call for Abstracts/Papers

Abstracts of maximum 500 words are invited on the above themes. Abstracts should be submitted to Rachel Hayman (rhayman@intrac.org) and Susannah Pickering-Saqqa (s.pickering-saqqa@uel.ac.uk) by Monday 3 June 2013. 

NGOs, Evidence, Policy and Practice

DSA Study Group on NGOs in Development

Wednesday 1st May 2013 (webinar)

This virtual seminar (webinar), organised by the DSA Study Group on NGOs in Development, explored the pressure on NGOs to produce more robust evidence in their reports, evaluations, case studies and communications. There were four presentations, questions and discussion: 

Research and advocacy: ideas from NGOs in Malawi, Kate Gooding, University of Leeds

Towards contextual evidence of empowerment in a development NGO, Tiina Kontinen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Experiences from a systematic review of aid for maternal health: a reflection on why NGO studies rarely made the grade, Rachel Hayman, INTRAC

The Evidence Principles: experiences from a pilot tool, Jo Jeans, CAFOD (representing PPA Empowerment & Accountability Learning group)

The Accountability, Legitimacy and Credibility of International Development NGOs
DSA Annual Conference
November 2012

• Panel Convenors: Dr Rachel Hayman  and Dr Angela Crack
• Download the conference papers

The Study Group held a panel at the DSA Annual Conference on 3rd November 2012 to explore new theoretical and empirical research on questions around the accountability, legitimacy and credibiilty of NGOs. Papers explored peer-regulation initiatives; public accountability; accountability between NGOs, donors and their publics; downwards accountability betweewn NGOs and local partners and beneficiaries. 

Cracking Collaboration – A new look at partnerships in international development research March-June 2012

The Study Group was awarded a small grant under the New Ideas Initiative. Run by researchers from INTRAC, the University of Bradford and World Vision UK, the project explored research collaboration between academics and NGOs. A one-day workshop, attended by Study Group members and representatives of NGOs and DFID, was held on 3-4 May 2012.

Full details and project outputs can be found here