This paper looks at the role of civil society in South Africa over the past 36 years. It views civil society as an integral part of a society that has undergone enormous change. It looks at civil society functioning as a part of a societal system that systematically impoverished the majority of its citizens. It traces the journey of people's struggles to survive and thrive and how these culminated in overthrowing an unjust political regime. It follows the journey through the political transition and looks at the point arrived at after the honeymoon period and the new struggle to make it work: arriving at a crossroads that, although a long way down the road, in the approach looks vaguely familiar. It ends by exploring a new way of thinking about the role of civil society that might contribute to finding ways of moving beyond systems that impoverish as a means of creating and concentrating wealth.

This article discusses the potential of evaluation to help NGOs, namely the WWF (the World Wide Fund for Nature), to promote sustainable development in the Russian forest sector. Application of evaluation can strengthen two out of three main functions of NGOs – their expertise and lobbying. The third function of NGOs, as legitimisers, is difficult to perform in the Russian institutional climate. International partnerships address the issue of legitimacy and secure funding for NGOs. This international support is beneficial to a capacity building process and should promote the implementation of independent evaluation, which, in turn, can be helpful to promote sustainable development.

The San of Botswana are marginalised and live in poverty. Through semi-structured interviews and participant observation in two San communities, we analyse challenges facing community garden initiatives, and find that the failure of the gardens related to how the San are treated, as well as how they themselves have come to view their situation as destitute people. We conclude that forced resettlement, and historical livelihood disruption, as well as government and NGO policies of doing development through welfare (e.g. handouts), to the neglect of genuine empowerment of people, are responsible for the limited success of the community gardens.

The changing socio-economic and political tableau in India has affected civil society. This paper investigates how the roles, relationships, and strategies of civil society organisations (CSOs) are changing in response to these socio-political and economic changes. It also looks at what new capacities, opportunities, and challenges are emerging as important for CSOs in these changing contexts.

During the 1990s, and as part of a broader drive towards the “Afghanisation” of humanitarian assistance in Pakistan, Afghan NGOs became key implementing agencies supporting refugee-related and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan. This paper provides a detailed account of their emergence and consolidation, with a twofold objective. First, it complements and contributes to recent studies on Afghan NGOs and Afghan civil society, by providing historical insights on their trajectory. Second, it assesses such trajectory as a way of engaging with broader discussions on the role of NGOs within humanitarian operations.

This paper documents the exclusion from formal assistance of 43 Bangladeshi ultra-poor female heads of household, which forces women to rely on overstretched forms of informal assistance that are not culturally prescribed and are often experienced as shameful. Experiences of helplessness reinforced by dominant views of the ultra-poor as going nowhere discourage women from seeking out formal assistance. In order to overcome the effects of being deemed “beyond reach”, scholars and providers of aid must attend to persistent forms of neglect and exclusion in formal aid programmes, including the false assumption that the ultra-poor easily access prescribed informal social supports.

Improving access to water and sanitation facilities has been a priority on the international development agenda. Halving the number of those who do not have access to sanitation facilities is an MDG target. This study assessed the toilet conditions in an urban slum in Ghana. Many felt that the sanitary conditions were deplorable; they were unsatisfied with having to walk over half a kilometre before using a toilet. Government efforts to improve hygiene and address sanitation problems need to take into account financial, religious, and other factors that promote the supply and maintenance of appropriate toilet facilities and services in urban communities.

This article examines the potential of beekeeping, as an appropriate livelihood strategy for smallholder farm households using the sustainable livelihoods framework. A study undertaken over a six-year period (2004–9) with over 300 small-scale farmers in Kenya's Rift Valley Province found that despite excellent revenue earning potential, honey yields and returns remain comparatively low. Compared to maize, the staple crop of most Kenyan farmers, it was found that a typical ten-hive enterprise generated earnings equivalent to 0.86ha of maize. The article emphasises the need to build human capital for beekeeping rather than just promoting modern beehives.

Within the context of acute public spending cuts and the increasing push towards localism, the UK government is increasingly looking outwards to community- and citizen-led action for solutions to long-term social problems and to take on public services. The extent to which these groups have the capacity and willingness to take on politicised roles beyond their purpose and function is, however, not well understood. By reflecting on findings primarily from a street-level mapping project, in this paper discussion focuses on the potential implications arising from grassroots' co-option.