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Demonstrations in Poland against an abortion ban turned into massive protests as they became an outlet for widespread frustration over governmental corruption and a crumbling democracy. 

Gordana Knezevic takes a closer look at recent mass protests in Belgrade and Skopje, showing that public dissent can be driven by very different forces.

The wave of recent protests in Romania against unjust political decisions, which culminated in February 2017, represent a major step forward in the evolution of Romanian democracy.

Recent mass protests in Eastern Europe deserve our attention. The Broker aims to draw lessons from such movements’ conceptions to outcomes.

This February, The Broker kicked off the month with a new project called ‘New Waves of Civic Power’. In cooperation with The Spindle, the innovation platform of Partos, and CIVICUS, our team will investigate innovative civil initiatives that aim t…

Humanitarian search and rescue has become an increasingly important component of conflict management. Eugenio Cusumano addresses the innovative Migrant Offshore Aid Station.

Enhancing the universal relevance of SDGs

In his 1963 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the late US president John F. Kennedy expressed two ambitions for that decade: to commit to a manned moon mission and to end world poverty and hunger. On 21 July 1969, Apollo 11 landed on…

Conference report of the 24th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence,Geneva Switzerland.

Seizing space for civil society: An Overview of Six Countries – EADI Policy Paper Series – July 2013

Despite the aspirations, the development of a set of Sustainable Development Goals remains a challenging trial.

To really tackle the resource curse, local communities need to obtain a meaningful and informed position in consultation processes, at the negotiation table and in monitoring panels.

On November 23, 2013, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) proudly announced on its website that the Warsaw Climate Change Conference 2013 had concluded successfully.

There is no easy answer to the question of the fate of Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT region, but a few key steps can maximize the areas of agreement of the many vested interests.

The injustices of our current energy system are not on the agenda of world governments at their UN climate talks taking place in Warsaw this year. Not even the monster typhoon Haiyan seems to be able to change that. 

In the last week of September, world leaders gathered in New York for the general debate marking the opening of the 68th UN General Assembly (GA). This was an important moment for the post-2015 process, as several events were organized on the glob…

A new global partnership can provide the impetus for tackling the development challenges that Africa is facing. It must therefore be mutually beneficial, promote the autonomy of its states and address its developmental priorities.

A new global partnership can provide the impetus for tackling the development challenges that Africa is facing. It must therefore be mutually beneficial, promote the autonomy of its states and address its developmental priorities.

We have never before been in a situation where developments are occurring so fast and can be so disruptive.

Involving civil society organizations in the post-2015 drafting process is important, as implementation of the new agenda depends on their commitment.

Increasing awareness and knowledge about water use is essential and should be a key part of the post-2015 agenda.

More guidelines on food security include the Right to Food. At the same time donors and governments heavily support private sector development to increase agricultural investment and growth. The focus should be kept on smallholder farmers. 

The gap in policy processes towards better food security and nutrition interventions is not related to a lack of knowledge, it is politics. Research institutions need to be more aware of empowering beneficiaries.

The key areas to prioritize in the UN’s Post-2015 development agenda will soon be determined in a worldwide consultation process coordinated by the UN. Feeding into this process, The Broker brings together international experts to pool their knowl…

‘All NGOs are dead.’ Brazilian hacktivist Pedro Markun opened his session with this heavyweight missile at the conference of the HIVOS’ Knowledge Program, ‘The Changing Face of Citizen Action’, last September.

There can be no refuting Michael Edwards’ claim that the world we live in is not only thick with problems, but that the problems that we are collectively trying to address are ‘thick…complex, politicized and unpredictable…complicated and…

I think the questions that are asked and discussed are based on tacit assumptions about the role of development INGOs – irrespective of whether their work is ‘thick’ or ‘thin’ in its scope – that I have difficulty saying I share.

Ossification (noun): the natural process of bone formation: the hardening (as of muscular tissue) into a bony substance; a mass or particle of ossified tissue; a tendency toward or state of being molded into a rigid, conventional, sterile, or…

Quite a lot of thinking, deliberating and visioning about the future of NGOs, INGOs and civil society is happening by different organizations and at different fora. Be inspired. And let us know if you know of any other work that should be listed h…

Was the welcome smell of oven-fresh apple pie meant to soften the controversial question on the table: is it time for INGOs to retire?

Normally I avoid discussions about the future of NGOs like the plague – they either involve a bunch of academics with only the vaguest idea of what we actually do all day, or a lot of senior managers emitting sonorous pronouncements on how we need…

While I never trusted a direct link between economic growth and human development, questioning the automatism of the link a few years ago was often brushed aside as quite ridiculous. 

The ‘development world’, which may be referred to as a world in it’s own right, has witnessed yet another high level gathering at a ‘critical juncture’ in global development. 

The Broker is hosting a new debate titled ‘Future Calling’ and we warmly invite you – also on behalf of Hivos – to contribute.Our world is changing quickly and profoundly. Rich and poor – regardless of where they live – are faced with increasingly…

What will our world look like in, say, twenty years from now, and what does that mean for the strategic choices that NGOs, INGOs and their partners should be making within the next few years?

We have followed very closely the exchanges around the new Knowledge Policy and we would like to give a small contribution to the ongoing debate.We welcome that the Dutch government explicitly recognizes in its Knowledge Policy of development coop…

Op 14 november heeft de Staatssecretaris zijn lang verwachte kennisbrief naar de Tweede Kamer gestuurd. De kennisbrief schetst nog slechts de contouren van een kennisbeleid maar is een goede aanzet.

In the run-up to the Fourth High Level Forum in Busan, Palestinian civil society organizations are speaking out on the much needed reform of international aid. 

Effective aid work means enabling NGOs to bring about real, lasting change for poor people.

How have the principles of aid effectiveness been put into practice?

It is time to refocus our energy and place our trust in the power and creativity of the people, argues Manuela Monteiro.

Coming up next week in The Hague, The Netherlands: a conference on the changing face of citizen action.

Brian Ashley, editor of Amandla magazine, believes in the importance of linking the climate crisis with other pressing struggles. In South Africa people are faced with mass unemployment, a housing crisis and land issues. In order to make the clima…

Phyllis Bennis is the director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, and a Fellow at the Transnational Institute (TNI) in Amsterdam. At the 2011 TNI Fellows Meeting (3-4 June) she talked about…

The dust has settled. Shaheer George is finally able to look back at the recent events in Egypt and does so at the TNI Fellows Meeting in Amsterdam (3-4 June 2011). George is an Egyptian youth activist, active in pro-democracy groups including the…

Salwa Ismail is professor of politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. At the TNI Fellows Meeting in Amsterdam (3-4 June), she discussed the differences between the revolutions in Egypt and Syria….

Claudio Schuftan from the People’s Health Movement (PHM) makes it very clear that he is an MDG skeptic. And he strongly persuades his readers to question the ‘deficit-filling approach’ to poverty, malnutrition and health. He takes it even further,…

Last Sunday, my activities centred around Central Park. It was such a perfect day, sunny and warm. An Indian Summer. I started from the stiff and stuffy Upper East Side, where the only people you see during the week are cute little ‘Caucasian’ whi…

It seems New York City provides a fitting backdrop to the UN MDG summit. The city has many contrasting faces, as do the summit and the MDG-related side events.As the official conference kicked off yesterday only a few blocks away, I found myself i…

This selection of videos shows participants at the Second International Conference on Degrowth, discussing the idea of sustainable degrowth and their impressions from the conference. The conference took place in Barcelona in March 2010 and was cov…

The Civic Driven Change (CDC) initiative recently organized a workshop on the practice of CDC, which aims to develop a new, citizen-driven approach to development and social change. This overview of the event also links to reports from each of the…

Yesterday I proposed that strengthening a human rights approach within the MDGs would go far in overcoming the generally-agreed weaknesses of the MDGs. But how difficult or easy would it be to make that happen?There are many civil society organiza…