Despite their growing significance in the development field, academic research regarding development NGOs from emerging donors, such as South Korea, is almost non-existent. This study is based on a case study of LotusWorld, a Korean NGO, and its two recent projects conducted in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Based on interviews with Korean staff and with a group of villagers in the local community, the article examines how LotusWorld’s vision and practices of participation have evolved from the first project to the second, as well as the challenges that they faced. Suggestions for further community participation are made for key actors.

The Bangladesh government formulated the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategies and Action Plans (BCCSAP) in 2008 through a participatory process involving several CSOs/NGOs and others. This article discusses the participation of CSOs/NGOs in climate change policy-making, focusing on mapping their level of participation in policy-making. It demonstrates that state laws allow CSOs/NGOs to implement several projects voluntarily, but largely prohibit their participation in political decision-making processes. The state invites a few CSOs/NGOs as a condition to receive aid, but displays arbitrary and co-opting attitudes towards CSOs/NGOs that rarely ensure joint decisions in creating policy.

On 25 April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, causing huge damage. Many countries and international organisations such as the United Nations started monitoring the situation and offered support to the Nepali government. This article raises points that must be examined by decision-makers before implementing delegations; these include cost effectiveness, whether it improves morale and resilience, international relations, and experience, and promotes good relationships between the two countries, and assisting their own citizens who were affected by the disaster.

The Arab Foundations Forum (AFF) has spent the past two years studying the landscape in which the forum functions. AFF, as a membership-based network of philanthropic foundations based in and/or working in the Arab region, is uniquely positioned to canvass the region’s donors, grant-makers, and civil society players, and to draw conclusions about the state of the region’s philanthropic sector. The overarching conclusion presented in this viewpoint is that there are many challenges, but also ways in which we can help to mitigate these challenges over time. The article points to three key ways in which the philanthropic sector is being challenged.

The current scholarship on development aid has asserted that a “transformation” of development, one that “puts people first”, is presently taking place in the particular form of volunteer aid. In southern Israel, this claim is evident in recent attempts to “strengthen” depressed “development town” communities through a movement that combines Zionist settlement with the volunteer aid of university students. Based on ethnographic work in the development town of Yeruham, this article problematises this claim by investigating the daily encounter of volunteers with members of their multiply marginalised host community. It challenges such claims of “transformation” and exposes the complex social reality of what it means to “develop” and “empower” a population routinely framed as disadvantaged and targeted for aid.

Empowerment is under-researched in labour and trade unions, not least in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on workplace observations and interviews with union members and staff in agriculture, commerce, and industry, this article shares insights from two trade unions in Zambia. Findings show that the extent of empowerment differs between members and that empowerment is constrained by employer influence, privatisation, lack of government labour law enforcement, and union resources. Using an integrated approach, the article discusses differences in perceptions of empowerment, how external intentions clash with local structures, and offers suggestions which may help to improve union empowerment methods and programmes.

This article reports on a study that aimed to investigate the differences in access to, and utilisation of, agricultural credit among subsistence farmers in Pakistan. Primary data were collected from 87 randomly selected subsistence farmers. Results show that subsistence farmers with more land had greater access and utilisation, and that education, experience, type of farmer, and landholding size were significant factors influencing access to credit. As subsistence farmers with the least land were the most disadvantaged, there is a need for revamping the credit policy to protect their interests. Moreover, simplifying the existing complex procedures involved in securing agricultural credit is highly recommended.

Within the last two decades microfinance has been widely adopted as one of the best development strategies to reduce poverty and empower women in many developing countries. Drawing on ethnographic research undertaken in Ethiopia, this article elucidates the complexities of microfinance processes, and argues that current microfinance practice does not facilitate the participation of women in decision-making over the use and management of loans as well as the income they generate from running small enterprises. The article illustrates that women are engaged in running small-scale economic activities at home that produce low returns, and they have limited access to lucrative markets. It also demonstrates that due to a discriminatory household division of labour, women are overworked in their households and in their enterprises. Through engaging in a mode of representation (ethnography) that allows specific critical voices to be heard, the article contributes toward tempering the current enthusiasm for the widely expanding microfinance industry.

More evidence is emerging about challenges many different types of civil society organisations around the world are facing relative to the sustainability of their organisations and functions. Valuable experiences and lessons are also emerging of how organisations are responding. This concluding article brings together themes from across the articles in this special issue, offering a broad understanding of civil society sustainability, exploring why this matters in the present geopolitical context, reviewing what has changed from previous analyses, and proposing ideas for what needs to change as we move forward.

A significant part of urbanisation in India is happening through unregulated or partly regulated trajectories that are either informal or semi-formal in nature, and regulatory authorities have come to terms with them on a piecemeal basis over a period of time. This article contends that what is considered unplanned by regulatory agencies is actually planned by people and facilitated by the normativity surrounding both formal and informal institutions of urbanisation in society. The study looks at the processes through which such a housing settlement comes into being and negotiates legitimacy, authorisation, as well as basic civic services.