WORD COUNT: 1,118 [including title] [May MD Reflection] Five Critical Areas for NGOs in 2012 and Beyond

There are unfortunately few opportunities for the U.S. NGO community to think strategically about the environment in which we operate: to reflect on our efforts to protect and advance human dignity, but also on the evolution of our field, how the landscape has changed, and how new actors and forces lead us to redefine our roles. My goal is for the InterAction Forum to provide a chance for this reflection. This years plenary sessions cover five areas critical for the U.S. NGO community's strategic dialogue: the power of youth and gender in political change; how new actors are shaping the development and humanitarian ecosystem; the evolution of multilateral institutions; the direction and nature of U.S. engagement in the world; and what framework, if any, should replace the Millennium Development Goals after 2015. Each demands our attention if NGOs are to be relevant, effective and transformative actors in the coming decades. Recently, we have seen major political shifts driven by grassroots movements with young people, often young women, on the frontlines. We have seen dictators ousted, but we have also seen an alarming backlash against womens rights and the enabling environment for civil society. In such transitions, NGOs can help address two critical challenges: weak local institutional capacity and the exclusion of marginalized populations, including youth, women, people with disabilities, and many others. International NGOs have a critical role to play in capacity building and creating an inclusive environment for youth and women to take on leadership roles and demand their rights. We can do this directly at the community levelby funding, training and supporting local groupsand by advocating at national and international levels for civil society space and empowerment of marginalized populations. Large international actors such as the World Bank are acknowledging the importance of civil society to successful development, and international NGOs are uniquely equipped to ensure interventions are effective. The Forum is also engaging new actors in the development and humanitarian ecosystems. Resources from corporations, myriad new donors and expanding South-South cooperation are shaping our field. Aid and investment from the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is growing rapidly, and developing countries public, private and nonprofit sectors are increasingly capable of shaping their countries futures. Corporations continue to have enormous impact through direct foreign investment, and a growing number are considering how their core business operations impact developmentmoving beyond traditional corporate social responsibility. A 2010 UN Global Compact study found that 78 percent of corporate CEOs believe their companies should engage in multi-stakeholder partnerships to address development goals. What does this new multi-stakeholder framework mean for international NGOs? Simply put, we must expand what we can do with all these new actors, not just what we can do alone. Corporate-NGO partnerships are challenging, but can achieve unparalleled scale and distribution. These partnerships are on the rise as some NGOs use value chains to achieve scale. Where countries public, private and nonprofit sectors have increased capacity, our challenge is to build and leverage local institutions, as capacity-building is integral to service provision and advocacy efforts. At the international level, we can ensure corporations, emerging economies

and traditional large development actors engage with their local partners in ways that are mutually beneficial, inclusive and sensitive to local needs. It is also worth considering how traditional multilateral institutions have evolved, how they are adapting to remain relevant, and how international NGOs must learn some similar lessons. One positive recent development is the World Banks increased transparency and data-sharing. (With the U.S. signing the International Aid Transparency Initiative, our community will also soon need to start making its data available.) Another positive shift is the rising recognition of civil societys role in development. The World Bank is interested in funding civil society organizations through its new Global Partnership for Social Accountability, and civil society increasingly plays a formal role internationally, as it did at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan. A challenge for all of us, but especially donor governments and the UN, is adapting to a multistakeholder environment where nation-states are but one set of actors among many, and crosssector partnerships involving civil society are increasingly important. In many ways USAID is increasingly attempting to operate like an NGO in this ecosystem. As these shifts accelerate, governance of multilateral institutions will be critical. We may see tension as different donors, emerging economies, local and global civil society all seek to maintain or gain influence. As international NGOs begin to participate in governance, we must consider how to leverage these institutions and validate our role. Despite the changing field, the U.S. remains the most powerful player globally and a major donor for NGOs. Development as a means of global engagement is now a strongly held value for U.S. policymakers, Republican and Democrat alike. Both party establishments have rejected calls for isolationism, and foreign aid funding has so far survived one of the toughest budget environments in decades largely intact, thanks to bipartisan Congressional support and advocacy by NGOs. Increasingly, foreign assistance is a central pillar of U.S. foreign policy. This is largely a positive development, although the militarization of aid and how it is used as a tool of U.S. power are cause for great concern. International NGOs will continue to stress that development assistance is a means to increase U.S. national security and prosperity, and must also emphasize the broad human security, rights and moral use of aid, regardless of which party is in power. The more we do this, the more positive U.S. engagement with the world will be. As we look beyond 2015 and consider what goals the international community should set for human development in the coming decades, the highest priorities include the intersection of basic human rights, concrete development outcomes and environmental sustainability. Ultimately, any future goals must emerge from these three vantage points. The ideal post-2015 framework will include interdependent environment, rights and development goalscommon, concrete, shared challenges. The U.S. NGO community remains divided by sector, with separate industries operating in silos focused on separate challenges. But the paths to most solutions are intertwined, and the areas of potential progress lie at the intersections of different fields. We must see the U.S. NGO community as one component of a complex ecosystem, where relationships are critical to successful outcomes. When we imagine the universe of problems facing our world, we must see them as intertwined, with cooperative action essential to finding solutions. As these five themes jointly demonstrate, as we look to a better future, a simple truth emerges: Working together and leveraging each other is critical to any success in building a better world.