Effective Alliances
between CSOs,
Policy Makers & Pvt
Sector
Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri
Sustainable Development
Policy Institute, Pakistan
AFT Discussion
• Priority areas for AFT
• Demand driven or imposed with
conditionality
• Size of AFT
• Scope of AFT
• Mechanism
Who Decides How? Role of CSOs?
What Political Obstacles do CSO face
in engaging in trade policy/AFT
discussion?
Defining Civil
Society
Organizations
Role of government
(Direction Vs
Facilitation)
CSOs : Pick and Choose
policy of government
(Official delegation to
ministerial conference)
Perceiving state and
government as inseparable
entity
(Anti govt = Anti state)
Dilemma of well
resourced INGOS
(MOU with host Govt)
Functional Vs Institutional
Democracy
(steering committees, tech
committees?)
Mal-governance
(lack of transparency,
responsiveness,
participation, responsibility
and accountability)
Financial obstacles
(Matching priorities)
(Budgetary allocations to
Govt)
War on terrorism
INGOs labeled as agents of US
NGOs under scrutiny---Jihadi
outfits
CS Groups-----crying in the
wilderness
StateCentered
War on terrorism
Citizen or Subjects
SocietyCentered
Have & not have
Violent
Conflict
HUMAN
INSECURITY
Political obstacles
Social
Disruption
Strategies to build effective
alliance with policy-makers
Love-Hate relationship
CSOs
PM
WB US$ 17.27 bn
since 1950
ADB US$ 15.39 bn
since 1966
ECCA Euro 400
mn since 1976
Loans,
Grants and
TAs for
Pakistan
UNDP
DFID
UNEP
CIDA
SDC
JICA
FAO
0.7% health
2% education
UNIDO
31% defence
30% debt servicing
GF
IFC
RNE
USAID
Change Management
One size cant fit all. One strategy can’t work for every CSO
Alliance Objectives
• To make AFT country driven & country
owned
• To ensure AFT activities respond to
ground realities
• To make aid providers and aid spenders
accountable & answerable to general
masses
• To think beyond PRSPs, and quantitative
targets
Strategies to build effective
alliance with policy-makers
•
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Enhance your nuisance value & Get heard (Media)
Understand PMs point of view
Start with least controversial point
Discover sympathetic spora among PMs
Balance criticism with constructive suggestions
Give credit where it is due?
Present well informed and well researched
alternative positions, highlighting their value
addition
AWARENESS RAISING around alternative position.
Offer joint review/research
Create pressure on donors on behalf of PMs
Strategies to build effective
alliance with private sector
Civil society-civil society alliance
• Facilitation of Pvt sector to formulate their own agenda
(awareness raising, mutual capacity building)
• Joint research to explore policies that work for poverty
reduction and development through Pvt Sector
involvement
• Evidence based policy formulation and implementation
• Amplify the voices of Pvt sector to get them heard in
national and plurilateral policy making arenas.
Is this alliance possible?
Yes, it is…
But it ain’t goin’ to be easy!