This unique study from the OECD Development Centre presents a comprehensive review by independent experts of the relationships and division of responsibility between the 22 member governments of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), and NGOs from these donor countries, working in international development. Additional chapters cover the roles of the European Union and the World Bank. Among other themes, the book looks at two very significant issues. First, at the way in which an overemphasis on evaluation may be leading NGOs to focus purely on measuring their output, thus choosing activities which are easily accountable. Second, it examines the important impacts of the evolution in the funding relationship between governments and NGOs - from matching grants to contracts - where NGOs must increasingly compete for contracts.

Unlike Grameen Bank, the microcredit giant whose Nobel Prize heaped it with accolades and publicity, its Bangladeshi cousin BRAC is barely known outside the country. Author Ian Smillie predicts that BRAC, which is arguably the world's largest, most diverse and most successful NGO, has little time left in the shadows. The spread of its work dwarfs any other private, government or non-profit enterprise in its impact on development, on women, on children and on thousands of communities in Asia and Africa. ""Freedom From Want"" traces BRAC's evolution from a small relief operation indistinguishable from hundreds of others, into what is undoubtedly the largest and most variegated social experiment in the developing world. BRAC's story shows how social enterprise can trump corruption and how purpose, innovation and clear thinking can overcome the most entrenched injustices that society can offer. It is a story that ranges from distant villages in Bangladesh to New York's financial district on 9/11, from war-torn Afghanistan to the vast plains of East Africa and the ruins of Southern Sudan. Partly an adventure story, partly a lesson in development economics, partly an examination of excellence in management, the book describes one of the world's most remarkable success stories, one that has transformed disaster into development and despair into hope.

This book is about the interaction between poverty, aid and technology. It is about machines and machinery: the machines that produce nuts and bolts, and the machinery of governments and organizations. The book shows the correlation between poverty reduction and different approaches to technology.

'Mastering the Machine Revisited' is about the connection between poverty, aid and technology. It is about a search that has been going on, officially in the developing world for over forty years, and less officially in most countries since the beginning of time. It is a search driven today by more hard core poverty than has ever been known, and b

This unique study from the OECD Development Centre presents a comprehensive review by independent experts of the relationships and division of responsibility between the 22 member governments of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), and NGOs from these donor countries, working in international development. Additional chapters cover the roles of the European Union and the World Bank. Among other themes, the book looks at two very significant issues. First, at the way in which an overemphasis on evaluation may be leading NGOs to focus purely on measuring their output, thus choosing activities which are easily accountable. Second, it examines the important impacts of the evolution in the funding relationship between governments and NGOs - from matching grants to contracts - where NGOs must increasingly compete for contracts.

Africa's diamond wars took four million lives. They destroyed the lives of millions more and they crippled the economies of Angola, the Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The biggest UN peacekeeping forces in the world-in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Congo and Cote d'Ivoire are the legacy of 'conflict' or 'blood diamonds'. 'Blood on the Stone' tells the story of how diamonds came to be so dangerous. It describes the history of the great diamond cartel and how it gradually lost control of the precious mineral, as country after country descended into anarchy and wars fuelled by diamonds. The book describes the diamond pipeline, from war-torn Africa to the glittering showrooms of Paris, London and New York. It describes the campaign that began in 1999 and which eventually forced the industry and more than 50 governments to create a global certification system known as the Kimberley Process, aimed at wringing blood diamonds out of the retail trade. This gripping account concludes with a sobering assessment of the certification system, which soon became hostage to political chicanery, mismanagement and vested interests. Too important to fail, the Kimberley Process has been hailed as a regulatory model for Africa's extractive minerals. Behind the scenes, however, it runs the risk of becoming an ineffectual talk shop, standing aside as criminals re-infest the diamond world.

This is a study of international development NGOs and their Southern partners. It describes the work and the place of NGOs over the last 25 years and attempts to demystify their role, and to describe some of the lessons that are being learned on a daily basis across a hundred different countries. The book focuses in particular on the fast-changing relationships between Northern and Southern NGOs, and between NGOs in both hemispheres and their governments.;The book is divided into three parts: the first examines the historical evolution of NGOs, both North and South. A longer central section explores some of the challenges facing NGOs today, and the third section speculates on the future of the movement, based on evidence over recent years and from the non-profit sector in domestic Northern economies.

The struggles and successes in achieving acceptance of new, small-scale technologies in Ghana.

Africa's diamond wars took four million lives. They destroyed the lives of millions more and they crippled the economies of Angola, the Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The biggest UN peacekeeping forces in the world-in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Congo and Cote d'Ivoire are the legacy of 'conflict' or 'blood diamonds'. 'Blood on the Stone' tells the story of how diamonds came to be so dangerous. It describes the history of the great diamond cartel and how it gradually lost control of the precious mineral, as country after country descended into anarchy and wars fuelled by diamonds. The book describes the diamond pipeline, from war-torn Africa to the glittering showrooms of Paris, London and New York. It describes the campaign that began in 1999 and which eventually forced the industry and more than 50 governments to create a global certification system known as the Kimberley Process, aimed at wringing blood diamonds out of the retail trade. This gripping account concludes with a sobering assessment of the certification system, which soon became hostage to political chicanery, mismanagement and vested interests. Too important to fail, the Kimberley Process has been hailed as a regulatory model for Africa's extractive minerals. Behind the scenes, however, it runs the risk of becoming an ineffectual talk shop, standing aside as criminals re-infest the diamond world.

Unlike Grameen Bank, the microcredit giant whose Nobel Prize heaped it with accolades and publicity, its Bangladeshi cousin BRAC is barely known outside the country. Author Ian Smillie predicts that BRAC, which is arguably the world's largest, most diverse and most successful NGO, has little time left in the shadows. The spread of its work dwarfs any other private, government or non-profit enterprise in its impact on development, on women, on children and on thousands of communities in Asia and Africa. ""Freedom From Want"" traces BRAC's evolution from a small relief operation indistinguishable from hundreds of others, into what is undoubtedly the largest and most variegated social experiment in the developing world. BRAC's story shows how social enterprise can trump corruption and how purpose, innovation and clear thinking can overcome the most entrenched injustices that society can offer. It is a story that ranges from distant villages in Bangladesh to New York's financial district on 9/11, from war-torn Afghanistan to the vast plains of East Africa and the ruins of Southern Sudan. Partly an adventure story, partly a lesson in development economics, partly an examination of excellence in management, the book describes one of the world's most remarkable success stories, one that has transformed disaster into development and despair into hope.

The charitable impulse to help people has a history rooted in ethics. However, much of what passes for humanitarianism today is a commercial enterprise, manipulated by market forces of supply and demand. And since the launch of the ""war on terror,"" national security interests and political objectives have increasingly come into play. In The Charity of Nations, Ian Smillie and Larry Minear probe the reasons behind governmental and nongovernmental responses to urgent human need. They explain why some crises get the lion's share of attention and resources, while others are essentially forgotten. The vibrantly contrasting cases of Afghanistan, East Timor, and Sierra Leone, among others, illustrate how foreign policy and domestic politics have shaped what has become the business of humanitarianism. The authors call for a revamped humanitarian structure - one that eliminates the ambiguities and confusion that exist today. They argue for a shift away from rampant political and commercial intrusions, and a rededication to multilateralism, genuine accountability, and trust. This book is poised to be one of the most important and influential assessments of humanitarianism in a decade.

Patronage or Partnership brings a new perspective to the subject of building local capacities in emergency and post-emergency situations. Many relief programs remain characterized by externality: in their funding, accountabilities, approach to management, and dependence upon expatriate staff. Strengthening local capacity is easier said than done, and there are real tradeoffs between outsiders doing something in the midst of an emergency, on the one hand, and building longer-term local skills, on the other. By critically examining the dilemma from local perspectives in case studies from Mozambique, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Haiti and Guatemala, this book finds real hope and possibilities amidst the prevalling rhetoric and confusion.