ABSTRACT
Accession to the European Union (EU) also meant (re)entry into the donor community for the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe. Human resource constraints seem to be one of the important drawbacks in the government-led cooperation programmes of many of the new member states. This is where, civil society, in particular the national civil society, can play an important role. It can help in the design and implementation of the programmes, in overall awareness raising as well as in keeping ‘watch’ on government policies. This paper examines the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in development cooperation, focusing on the case of Slovenia: how they have integrated themselves into the development cooperation programmes of Slovenia, what the good practices are and where the difficulties that inhibit cooperation with the government lie. Special attention has been paid to stakeholders’ participation in policy design and priority selection as well as to the organizational framework put in place. In Slovenia, the Presidency of the Council of the EU increased the level of the government’s cooperation with the non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) significantly. The ‘Europeanization’ process has been significant in shaping development cooperation content and delivery in Slovenia, including the participation of NGDOs.
