ABSTRACT
The starting point for this chapter is the shared commitment by many national and international governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to the action outcome in development education. It goes on to discuss why this core element of practice is largely marginalised in the planning and delivery of many development education and international NGO activities and projects drawing upon high-profile public campaigns such as Live Aid in 1985 and Make Poverty History in 2005. It argues that if international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) fail to address the structural causes of global inequality as part of their activities, then they cannot expect to engage learners and stakeholders in actions that will reduce poverty. One of the main impediments to meaningful public engagement by the INGO sector is the creeping impact of neoliberalism on development agency practice evidenced by increased competition between INGOs for public funding which squeezes resources for development education; a focus on shallow, consumer-driven forms of citizen action; short-term government funding cycles that can impede the deeper learning needed to sustain public action; INGO funding strategies that conflate development with charity; and the policy focus on aid, often to the marginalisation of other key aspects of development.
