Grantmakers East Group urged to take Chinese medicine approach

By general consensus this sixth annual meeting of Grantmakers East Group (GEG), held in Bucharest and hosted by the Romanian Donors Forum, was the best yet. Why? One significant factor, I suspect, was the decision to invite a number of non-grantmaker specialist speakers. But above all else, and completely beyond the control of the organizers, was the timeliness of the conference, coming just a few weeks after the terrorist attacks on the United States.

The impact of the attacks is felt strongly by participants in GEG. This is partly because the Group remains heavily supported by the larger US foundations active in the region and there are uncertainties about how 11 September will affect their funding and partly because events since 11 September have placed new emphasis on Central Asia in particular, but also the Caucasus and Balkans.

With an opening plenary on New challenges, new responses, it was inevitable that the impact of the terrorist attacks would be discussed. Ivan Krastev (Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria), placing himself firmly in the camp of people who take the view that 11 September marked a threshold, set the tone and framed the context for the conference. Arguing powerfully that the attacks have shone a light on the fragility of democracy and liberalism in many countries and regions, Krastev urged grantmakers to take the ‘Chinese medicine’ approach, targeting key pressure points – root causes of problems such as poverty and social exclusion – and basing strategies on sound local knowledge. He also urged people to move from ‘the ethics of conviction to the ethics of responsibility’. ‘Conviction’ I took to be the conviction that democracy and liberal values are the cure-all, while ‘responsibility’ is about recognizing that they may not be a universal panacea when so many disagree with ‘the West’ and economic and social conditions are so poor for millions of people. This point was echoed by other speakers, who argued that the GEG is too dominated by the largely US focus on democracy and that there are other possible frameworks, for example a focus on poverty and social exclusion.

A caution to funders

John Schoberlain of International Crisis Group also echoed this theme, urging grantmakers to recognize the fragility of the situation and tackle root causes. His particular focus was Central Asia. Issuing a warning that was picked up time and again over the two days, Schoberlain argued that there is a serious danger of the complexities of Central Asia being ignored in the sudden increase in interest from the West. When funding starts to flow, as it undoubtedly will, there is a real risk of undermining local civil society in much the same way as happened in Kosovo and Bosnia. Schoberlain suggested that the major challenge for grantmakers working in Central Asia is to address poverty and social exclusion but in the context of an understanding of the role of Islam and the future political and cultural orientation of the region.

With the third plenary speaker, Hans-Georg Wieck of the OSCE in Belarus, talking about the often painful but essential process of coalition-building in situations where there are disparate groups and very divergent opinions, the broad themes of the conference were set. Over the next two days, participants had the opportunity to consider a wide range of specific funding issues – exit strategies, working with minorities and promoting community development were three – but these were the themes people kept coming back to.

The overall message? Right now it is hard to escape the uncertainty clouding the agenda, but the conference did come up with some clear pointers. Grantmakers need to balance the ‘democracy agenda’ with a more coherent and strategic focus on poverty and social exclusion. And we need to do so ensuring that our research is sound and our contributions carefully targeted. Wherever possible we need to seek to establish cross-sector and other forms of coalition; in all that we do there needs to be a greater effort to share and coordinate.

For more information, about GEG and the conference, please contact Agnieszka Sawczuk at agnieszka@efc.be

Andrew Kingman is Director of Allavida. He can be contacted by email at andrewk@allavida.org

EVENT
Grantmakers East Group Sixth Annual Meeting
Date 25-26 October
Venue Bucharest, Romania