What the Development School Achieved
- Established a postgraduate programme in social development practice, validated by London Metropolitan University, that was delivered in partnership with leading NGOs in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
- Ran a series of Dialogues on Development to create space in which governmental, third sector and business organisations had open dialogue on development issues in order to create openness to new ways of working together.
- Facilitated a learning programme for eleven different donors, in partnership with Grantmakers East Group, on grantmaking in complex and uncertain situations.
- Produced a number of papers, articles and a monograph on social development practice.
- Conducted developmental consultancy interventions with organisations including Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Carpathian Foundation and the Trust for Civil Society in CEE.
Quote:
“The donors programme demonstrated that many grantmakers in our region are making similar mistakes, such as acceptance of western ‘values’ that might not be contextually and culturally appropriate; making assumptions that the donors’ perception of community need is the actual need; donors’ inadvertent creation of dependencies through their grants; and failure to work with all of the stakeholders in making grants. Some of these mistakes have come up in our grantmaking. It caused me to stop and consider how we, as grantmakers, can create an environment that is more conducive to better grantmaking.”
George Zarubin, Eurasia Foundation