Who's round the table? a review of civil society participation in aid coordination

This report offers insights into new aid coordination processes promoting the inclusion of civil society organisations (CSOs) in aid coordination. It has been produced as part of a wider Christian Aid programme on aid coordination, which aims to enhance the participation of civil society in development by regarding participation as involving shared decision making rather than merely information sharing, observation and consultation. The report provides illustrations of how civil society organisations in Bolivia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Uganda, Vietnam and Southern Africa participated in consultation groups (CGs) and round table (RT) exercises, and the support provided by their Northern partners. The report is based on information obtained from Christian Aid's international NGO channels, its national partners, and interviews with staff of the World Bank and UNDP. The results of the review show that there is still a long way to go in developing appropriate and feasible mechanisms to facilitate the full participation of CSOs , but it also documents some successes. After a general introduction, the second chapter examines the rhetoric of various actors on the question of why civil society should participate in aid coordination. The third section explores the reality at country level, setting out donor and CSO accounts side by side. The fourth and final section makes practical recommendations to CSOs, donors and international NGOs as to how participation in aid coordination might develop