International development is focusing more on basic needs of people – issues such as poverty reduction, health and education, social protection, gender equity, and environmental protection and improvement.
Despite the focus on people, however, in practice most international assistance to developing countries flows through multilateral development organizations and nation-to-nation direct assistance programs that work with developing country governments, often overlooking the input and participation of people affected and producing unintended or unexpected negative impacts.
Over the past 30 years a global movement has emerged to challenge the official development system and vision and to expand participation. Campaigns have been waged to stop specific development projects, change policies and practices, and fundamentally change the development priorities of official assistance programs.
Civil society organizations – people coming together in shared interests, purposes and values, through collective action – have led the global movement. This advocacy work of international civil society organizations increasingly is influencing global policy for development and is having success in shaping the international development agenda.
A persistent obstacle in the effectiveness of civil society organizations advocacy has been constraints on staffing, time and resources. Specifically, civil society organizations frequently are under pressure to balance concept and action, often without sufficient capacity or capability to undertake comprehensive research and analysis.
As civil society moves into advocacy in international development issues, broad knowledge of the international development discussion as well as specific knowledge of current operations in international development agencies will be critical. Research into how civil society can use information and communication technology in becoming involved effectively in the international development conversation poses a very interesting topic for research.
Three possible areas for research would be exploration of what information technology can be employed to strengthen an information base for civil society, and in what ways, to support the civil society role in the international development debate; develop evidence-based research data on current practice; and identify new and expanded possibilities for information and knowledge management within civil society organizations related to its adovcacy role.
Research results should have direct application is expanding and strengthening the capacity of civil society, particularly civil society organizations, in advocacy related to international development.
Keywords: international development; civil society; civil society organization; nongovernment organizations NGO; advocacy; knowledge management; civic action
Some online research resources:
Title: Organizational Development: Knowledge Management
Web Address: http://www.ngomanager.org/dcd/2_Organisational_Development/Knowledge_Management
Brief Description: A site dealing with resources for issues of information management strategy; networking and information flows; information and knowledge management.
Title: The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources – International Development
Web Address: http://www2.etown.edu/vl/intldev.html
Brief Description: An extensive listing of online resources related to international development.
Title: SSRC: Transnational Civil Society Organizations and Information Technology
Web Address: http://programs.ssrc.org/
Brief Description: The Social Science Research Council program is focused on four program areas: global security and cooperation; migration; knowledge institutions; and the public sphere. The SSRC web site offers a wide range of information sources on these topics.
Title: Civic Action in Eurasia
Web Address: http://www.fplib.org/partners/ccsi/ccsihome.html
Brief Description: An example of how the Internet can be used to disseminate information in a information-poor environment for strengthening civil society organizations working to expand civil rights, democratic institutions, social services, and economic reform.
Title: Using the Internet for Advocacy and Community-Building:
Successful NGO Case Studies for the New Millennium
Web Address: http://www.wiredstrategies.com/inter-sample.htm
Brief Description: This piece now is somewhat dated, and a bit short on content and links, but also is an interesting from the historical perspective – how the Internet was viewed ten years ago. A basis for viewing directions taken and pace of development.
