Accountability and Effectiveness in NGO Policy Alliances 1

At the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century, there was much talk of the emerging advocacy role for NGOs in both North and South. Debates about the propriety, legality and safety of NGO lobbying were in the air. Now, only a few years later, advocacy activities with governments, donors, multilateral development agencies and publics is assumed to be a crucial ingredient in enhancing the position of NGOs as key players in the diffuse social movement loosely labelled ‘sustainable development’. UNCED, in the summer of 1992, undoubtedly helped to turn the tide from the ‘Should we?’ line of questions regarding NGO roles in policy influence to the ‘How do we do it?’ discourse now emerging.