Funding for human rights - related articles - openDemocracy

Movements, money and social change: how to advance women’s rights

At the UN CSW underway in New York, a statement signed by almost 1000 women’s rights organizations calls out the lack of ambition for the scale of the issues at stake, and for real resources and accountability.

By Open democracy

/ 10 Mar 2015

Foreign aid: development or 'de-development'?

Foreign aid has only incapacitated Palestinians and made them ever more dependent on the west. The aid industry must choose between either blindly subsidizing oppression or recognize what is actually taking place and cease its support.

By Open democracy

/ 13 Apr 2014

Not just about the money: corporatization is weakening activism and empowering big business

Activist and advocacy organizations increasingly look and act like multinational corporations. Is it worth the price? This is the seventh installment in our series on money and social transformation.

By Genevieve LeBaron

/ 14 Mar 2014

NHS funding changes will worsen inequality

The government is planning funding shifts that will reduce access to NHS services where they are needed most.

By Open democracy

/ 22 Nov 2013

Sovereign Wealth Funds: can they be community funds?

The idea that governments should invest some of their wealth for public benefit has moved from utopian dream to part-reality with the advent of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). But are these SWFs really democratic entities?

By Open democracy

/ 6 Nov 2013

Women's human rights: Watering the leaves, starving the roots

Women and girls are in the public eye, recognized as key agents in development as never before. So why doesn't the funding for women's right's organisations reflect this? A new report from AWID provides critical analysis of the funding landscape

By Open democracy

/ 1 Nov 2013

Edge Fund: a new grassroots fund for social justice

Will those with money ever hand it over to change the systems that enriched them? No, say the Edge Fund, a new democratic funding body setup to fund radical projects. Here's what they propose to do instead.

By Open democracy

/ 3 Apr 2013

Russian NGOs: the funding realities

Continuing oDRussia's debate on the future for Russian NGO funding, now a view from the coal face. Pavel Chikov is chair of one of the country's most respected NGOs: he argues that foundation grants remain the simplest way to let human rights activists get on with their work.

By Pavel Chikov

/ 15 Feb 2013

Why domestic philanthropy isn’t enough for Russian NGOs

Writing on oDRussia yesterday, Almut Rochowanski argued that Kremlin’s repression of NGOs could work in their favour by encouraging domestic giving. Her mistake was assuming Russian NGOs are able and free to replicate Western membership-based fundraising models, which they are not, says Michael Al

By Open democracy

/ 14 Feb 2013

What do Russians think of their ‘foreign agents’?

In Putin’s Russia, NGOs funded from abroad are now officially considered ‘foreign agents’. However a recent poll suggests that the Russian public’s attitude to them is rather less one-sided. Vladimir Zvonovsky reports from Samara.

By Open democracy

/ 8 Feb 2013

Foreign aid to local NGOs: good intentions, bad policy

International solidarity is a wonderful idea, and the notion of transferring resources from North to South for good causes is morally attractive. The mechanics of doing this properly, however, are far more complex.

By James Ron

/ 15 Nov 2012

Russian government declares ‘cold war’ on civil society

The draconian laws introduced by President Putin during his first 100 days continue to inflame hearts and minds. Some people have taken fright, but others are determined to carry on the fight, says Yury Dzhibladze

By Open democracy

/ 21 Aug 2012