For many decades, the main driver of progress in developing countries was considered to be either the state or the market. Civil society existed only in relation to, and by the grace of, these forces. But people-centred development requires that individuals take control and address the problems in their communities.
The author is Director of the Psychology Department at Universidad Católica Boliviana in La Paz, BoliviaLocal development stresses the importance of new local actors’ participation (individuals, groups and institutions) and their social function i...
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The author works at the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and is a board member of the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR)The Civic Driven Change Initiative contains innovative ideas for bringing ab...
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I’m happy with this initiative to debate, rethink and question. I laud the diversity of voices and the underlying premise of a free debating space. It does seem that different participants are in it for different reasons, as is to be expected. Bac...
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One might have hoped that with the end of theories of pure state driven change (SDC) -since the collapse of the Berlin wall- and pure market driven change (MDC) -with the financial crisis- all comprehensive total-development-theory would have been...
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Related to the current principle paradigm in the development world (the Paris Agenda), the CDC narrative as it has been presented by the ‘G-11 and their supporters’ is valuable, timely and much needed. In my view CDC is not per se the all-encompas...
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The question of how NGOs should practice CDC in their daily work is, in my view, a bit premature. My first reaction is to go a step back and first ask should NGOs interfere at all with CDC, and if yes, why. Only when these questions have been care...
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For the Civic Driven Change (CDC) Initiative to encourage civically driven change, some findings from the Kettering Foundation’s research may be of interest. These findings are based on observations of public work done by citizens in communities i...
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During a visit to the Netherlands in May 2008, I was able to observe some of the discussions of the core and the advisory groups that form the Civic Driven Change (CDC) initiative. Since joining Context international cooperation in August 2008, I...
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IKV Pax Christi is one of the initiators of the Civic-Driven Change Project. The initiative arises from dissatisfaction with the degree to which international cooperation in practice is consistent with the political reality in which people live. A...
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I. What consequences does CDC have for NGOs’ daily practice? Will they have to give up providing services to the poor and instead develop their ‘brokering’ capacities in order to strengthen and link up people’s own community initiatives?NGOs shoul...
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This response is written basically keeping the situation in India in view. In this country there are different models of the work being done by NGOs. Some are actually involved only with delivery of services in the social sector at the grassroots...
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Moving away from state-centered solutions and market-based development, citizens as co-creators, construction rather than opposition, and democracy that is more than a voting system – yes: CDC could hold the promise of real change. Unfortunately,...
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The Special Report on Civic Driven Change raises a set of deep and critical questions about social and political change and the role of citizens. The core issue is that development must be seen essentially as a political rather than a technical pr...
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The papers had me cheering and stamping the floor as the writers skewered and demolished the depressing practices that have crept into the world of ‘civil society’, a world whose promise has been betrayed by so many of its practitioners. But as I...
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Did September-October 2008 mark a death-knell for capitalism? No, but it has driven a massive stake into the heart of neo-liberalism, the idea that a free market is both self-correcting and benign. There are photographic moments and memorable phra...
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The initiative by the development and peace organisations in the Netherlands to start a debate on the role of civil society in development processes is very welcome, if perhaps a little late. The article in The Broker reminded me of an experience...
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I am very pleased to see the formation of the Civic Driven Change initiative. It seems to me the orientation is quite important and largely on target. The need for an approach that provides an alternative to market and state dominated ‘solutions’...
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My thoughts are triggered by two questions raised in the Broker’s Special Report on Civic Driven Change. The first is whether there is anything new in this discourse and whether there is the promise of it being a ‘third narrative’.To a South Afric...
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The author is an independent consultantYour special report on the Civic Driven Change Initiative is a good piece of reportage on a welcome undertaking. I hope it will get lots of readers, expand The Broker’s audience, and provoke further interest...
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What is ‘Civic Driven Change’ if seen from the perspective of a professional lobbyist? As a phenomenon it could be defined as ‘change of (aspects or elements) of the reality in this world caused by organized and goal oriented use of energy by civi...
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