[ Civil society ]

There is a feeling that the growing standardisation of aid policies and procedures among northern donors, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), is not contributing to building strong local civil society organisations, enhancing local ownership, or contributing to strong partnerships. (id21)

The procedures of the EU, which involve application forms of dozens, sometimes up to 100 pages, which have to be sent in months before the project can start, are perceived as particularly "difficult" by NGOs. Other donors have "easier" procedures, but with their own application form and criteria. From the donor-side, these procedures ensure that applications are complete, exhaustive, and comparable... Nevertheless, what is often lacking in my eyes is regular personal contact between the reviewer of the application and the applicant - this would make decisions so much easier, and would probably avoid a lot of misunderstandings and inadequate spending of donor-money...

By the way, if you are looking for ways of sharing your ideas: the id21 development research platform "invites academics, practitioners, activists, decision-makers, policy-shapers from NGOs, research institutes, governments, donor organisations - indeed anyone involved in international development - to contribute a short article to id21 expressing their point of view on policy issues relating to their work."