Oxfam Novib, October 2006

In this essay the question how civil society (NGOs) relates to businesses in the context of poverty reduction takes centre stage. This question is highly relevant at the moment. Many NGOs in the North and South are watching ever more businesses seeking to profile themselves on this issue, often in the framework of their policy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). NGOs judge such business operations in many different ways. Some applaud these activities and want to co-operate with businesses to further expand and strengthen these activities. They look on these activities as new, extra opportunities for realising the goal of poverty reduction. Other NGOs, in contrast, watch these business activities with suspicion. They distrust the intentions of businesses that, in their eyes, are only out to make profits and maintain a polished (green and sustainable) image. These differences of opinion can be found all over the world. In the Philippines, India, South Africa and Brazil, but also in the Netherlands and the United States.

Many NGOs also wonder if co-operation with the business world would automatically mean that the organisation can no longer approach them critically. In other words: co-operation and campaigning do not mix?

Available for download at http://www.oxfamnovib.nl/media/download/Network/Network_0107_MVOCahier.pdf [1]