Analysing Micro-Assistance to Democracy: EU Support for Grassroots Organisations in South Africa

Development in Practice, Volume 14, Number 6, November 2004

12 Pages Posted: 4 Jul 2012 Last revised: 29 Oct 2012

See all articles by Lorenzo Fioramonti

Lorenzo Fioramonti

University of Pretoria; Centre for Social Investment, University of Heidelberg; Hertie School of Governance; UNU Institute for Comparative Regional Integration Studies

Date Written: November 11, 2004

Abstract

Aiding democracy has often been a top-down process. Not only has democracy assistance been overwhelmingly characterised by macro policies, but also when bottom-up policies have been attempted they have often addressed professionalised NGOs, with scarce grassroots membership and contact. Only more recently, some programmes have been implemented by foreign donors with the aim of developing what can be called micro-assistance to democracy, defined as democracy assistance directed to small, often community-based, organisations in the field. This article describes the European Community micro-assistance to democracy in South Africa after 1994. The data gathered comes from interviews conducted with project officials and semi-structured interviews with all directors of Community-Based Organisations that have been receiving funds from the European Union. Some preliminary findings suggest that micro-assistance to democracy in South Africa responds to specific problems affecting local civil society, even though most of these organisations remain scarcely sustainable and their skills to influence local policies are nevertheless limited.

Keywords: Democracy aid, democratization, European Union, South Africa, community-based organisations

Suggested Citation

Fioramonti, Lorenzo, Analysing Micro-Assistance to Democracy: EU Support for Grassroots Organisations in South Africa (November 11, 2004). Development in Practice, Volume 14, Number 6, November 2004, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2099125

Lorenzo Fioramonti (Contact Author)

University of Pretoria ( email )

Physical Address Economic and Management Sciences
Pretoria, Gauteng 0002
South Africa
+27 (0)12 420 4066 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.up.ac.za

Centre for Social Investment, University of Heidelberg ( email )

Grabengasse 1
Heidelberg, 69117
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.csi.uni-hd.de/

Hertie School of Governance ( email )

Schlossplatz 1
Berlin, 10178
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.hertie-school.org

UNU Institute for Comparative Regional Integration Studies ( email )

Brugge
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://www.cris.unu.edu

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