Funding freedom?: Synthesis report on the impact of foreign political aid to civil society organisations in South Africa
Source: Centre for Policy Studies
This paper presents the most significant findings of the third phase of the South African contribution to a study that has sought to research the impact of foreign political aid on CSOs and on democratisation in three African countries: South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda. It was conducted in partnership with the Institute for Development Studies of Sussex University in the United Kingdom; the Centre for Basic Research in Kampala, Uganda; and the department of political science of the University of Ghana. This third phase consisted of detailed studies of a range of CSOs, more specifically their organisational capacity, their internal democratic processes and structures, and their political efficacy, understood as their ability to influence government policy and legislation for the benefit of their members and other social actors.
In each case, the study also attempted to assess the effect on the CSO of donor funding where it has been available, and where it has not, to analyse the effect thereof and the likely implications of it receiving donor funding. In order to derive conclusions about the effects of donor actions, the analysis was conducted at two levels. The first concerned the ‘outputs’ of donor interventions: are donors supporting, in appropriate ways, the types of CSOs and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are likely to contribute to democratic consolidation? The second relates to outcomes; what evidence is there that CSOs and NGOs supported by donors are making an active contribution through activities designed to influence government policy and law?
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