Toward a New Poverty and Development Agenda: Contribution of the INGO Community

The Global Economy and Development program and the Ford Foundation recently a workshop on the contributions of the international non-governmental community (INGO) to poverty reduction. “Toward a New Poverty and Development Agenda: Contribution of the INGO Community” was attended by senior staff from INGOs and by partners in developing countries. Participants discussed the contribution of the asset accumulation framework to poverty reduction, climate change, bio-diversity, the changing nature of philanthropy, and new forms of INGO collaboration, among other issues.

Participating INGOs represented a range of focus from relief to development and conservation, including Save the Children Fund US, Conservation International, Action Aid UK, Oxfam America and World Vision.

The structure and content of the conference were the result of a detailed consultation process undertaken by Brookings scholar Caroline Moser and consultant Pamela Sparr with the staff from 21 INGOs. This scoping study also resulted in a working paper, which will be available soon, that documents current INGO approaches to poverty reduction and the relevance of an assets framework. A discussion paper that summarizes some of the key conference issues will also be available shortly.

The workshop was designed in part to address a widely expressed need, identified in the study, to provide space for critical intellectual reflection for organizations chiefly involved with the complexities of practical implementation.

Resources:
Conference Agenda
Reducing Global Poverty: The Case for Asset Accumulation Caroline O. N. Moser, Brookings Institution Press 2007