GPPi speaks at conference on NGOs, International Security, and Global Governance

GPPi Associate Director Jan Martin Witte presented at a conference entitled ​“NGOs, International Security, and Global Governance” which took place at the Carnegie Center for International Peace on 9 October 2007. The conference was organized by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at Johns Hopkins University. 

Witte spoke as a panelist for a session entitled ​“NGOs and Global Governance: Towards the Corporatization of Civil Society?” which addressed issues of the organization and financing of NGOs. As NGO operations become increasingly more business orientated, the panel session examined this trend focusing on questions such as: Is this compatible with their missions and goals? How are NGOs organized and financed? Furthermore, the panelists examined the role of fundraising campaigns and the question of NGOs’ donor dependency and the differences between German/​European and American NGOs. 

Witte’s presentation focused on the trends and policy implications of the corporatization of humanitarian NGOs, which he defines as increased internal adoption of business management principles and techniques, increased competition between NGOs and increased (though still limited) engagement of companies in humanitarian space. Trends such as the growth in the number of crises, growth in funding, growth in number of humanitarian actors and increasing demands for more transparency and accountability will result in the transformation of humanitarian arena. This transformation, according to Witte, will be characterized by greater competition for funding and more companies entering the humanitarian market. While competition can lead to more value for the money, this could generate additional risks such as less transparency.