Funding Civil Society Education Funds

1
Funding Civil Society Education Funds

• Broad consensus for funding civil society
  advocacy, but clear funding gap
• How best to get funding?
• CEF research (Funding Change 2007)
• Bilateral donors
• Multilateral donors
• INGOs
• Foundations
• Government
• Private sector

2
Bilateral donors

• 49 representatives interviewed
• Very good potential, although need to prove
  value of advocacy
• Pooled funding can minimise the high risk of
  funding advocacy
• Certain donors (CIDA, DANIDA, SIDA, NORAD, DFID)
  are more supportive than others (JICA, USAID)
• Potential difficulties accessing funding from
  headquarters due to decentralisation

3
Multilateral donors

• AFDB, EU, World Bank
• 16 representatives from 6 agencies interviewed
• Reticent to voice support for CSEFs as argue
  they have own approach in existing generic funds
• Funding civil society advocacy is often seen
  outside their mandate

4
International NGOs

• UN bodies and other IOs
• 92 representatives interviewed, mainly from 3
  agencies
• Positive to CSEF idea, but found it counter
  cultural for them to fund work they were already
  supporting
• Suggested alternative non-financial support such
  as joint research, capacity building and
  experience sharing

5
Foundations

• 25 staff from 20 agencies interviewed
• Insufficient data to be validated as donors
• However, appeared fruitful and to have increasing
  interest, especially at international level

6
Governments

• 32 representatives in 16 CEF countries
  interviewed
• Little support for funding CSEFs
• Bureaucratic checks and balances would prevent
  funding in practice
• Funding could compromise CSOs ability to
  criticise governments

7
Private sector

• 43 representatives interviewed
• Showed interest in education but not advocacy
• Mixed potential as in country macroeconomic
  conditions affect private sector presence
• Less likely to fund as need to keep good
  relations with government

8
Conclusion

• Bilateral donors are most probable source of
  funding
• Foundations show good potential but need for
  research into their role in funding
• Funding need to be country specific and context
  dependent