Transnational NGO Student Group Presents: Derick Brinkerhoff

Civil society capacity development: lessons from the Democratic Reform Support Program in Indonesia This talk examines civil society strengthening experience from Indonesia to illuminate issues, challenges, and lessons for NGO capacity building and international donor-supported democratic reform.  Indonesia’s democracy-promotion NGOs have largely operated as instruments of donor-supported reforms. As they seek to become socially embedded actors pursuing indigenous agendas, they face the need to confront the various expectations of their stakeholders regarding their roles and legitimacy, develop flexibility to respond to new engagements with government and with citizens, and address their internal capacity gaps.  The USAID-supported Democratic Reform Support Program’s efforts to work with Indonesian NGOs illustrate both the problems and the progress with government-NGO collaborations in democratic governance. Derick Brinkerhoff, EdD, is a Distinguised Fellow at RTI in international public management and has more than 25 years of experience with public management issues in developing and transitioning countries, focusing on policy analysis, program implementation and evaluation, participation, institutional development, democratic governance, and management change. He has received multiple awards and honors for his published research in social science and policy studies and for his contributions to the theory and practice of international development and comparative public administration. Dr. Brinkerhoff is North American editor of the UK-based journal, Public Administration and Development. He also holds an associate faculty appointment at George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. Lunch will be provided.