ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the role non-governmental development organizations (NGDO) play in the foreign aid policies of the East Central Europe (ECE) countries in terms of their advocacy and watchdog work. NGDO communities have emerged in all ECE countries as partners of the ministries of foreign affairs (MFA) and have put forward clear agendas on what shape they would like their countries' international development policies to take. The main goal of the chapter is to provide some insights on how influential NGDOs have been in the five countries, namely Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The relations between Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (FoRS) and the MFA were described as cooperative by both sides. European Union (EU) accession has opened the possibility for ECE NGDOs to apply for grants from the EU to finance specific projects. The NGDO communities in the ECE countries remain underdeveloped, despite the obvious benefits from EU accession and the creation of national development policies.
