This is an interview with Benoît Fontaine (Advisor with the King Baudouin Foundation) who is working on developing GuideStar in Belgium. He talks about:

* The civil society sector in Belgium
* The reason for GuideStar interest in Belgium
* The main partners for the initiative
* Where the data for GuideStar Belgium will come from

The latest GuideStar International Newsletter is now available (April 2009). In it you can find an update on GuideStar International, news from our partners and relevant articles about what is happening in the CSO sector.

'Agriculture has experienced serious problems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since 1990. Outputs and/or yields declined for most crops and in most countries during the 1990s. In addition, agriculture has not by itself addressed the consumptive interests of rural areas, such as recreation and nature conservation. As a result, agriculture has not been an engine of rural development, contributing instead to the concentration of poverty in rural more...

The aim of NGO Monitor is, according to its website, 'to generate and distribute critical analysis and reports on the output of the international NGO community for the benefit of government policy makers, journalists, philanthropic organizations and the general public. We intend to publicize distortions of human rights issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict and provide information and context for the benefit of NGOs working in the Middle East. We hope this will lead to an informed public debate on more...

'This paper examines fifteen cases of collective action in six villages in rural Bangladesh. The types of collective action identified were catalyzed by marriage; dowry and domestic violence; disputes over land; illness, injury and death in accidents; and theft and cheating. The role of development NGOs was less significant than would be expected considering their visibility in rural Bangladesh. The study suggests that ‘everyday forms’ of collective action often occur spontaneously and infor more...

'This is a compilation of the published (and a few unpublished, known) kidnappings and deaths within the global NGO community for the year 2008, and beginning of 2009.
Information was gathered from multiple sources online, and dates may or may not be exact. It is recommended to be used as a guide only.'
Source: InterAction

The 1st Quarterly GuideStar International Newsletter is now available. This gives an update on what has been happening with GuideStar in Europe, Korea, India, Japan, the UK and US and features an interview with the CEO of GuideStar Data services (the newly established Community Interest Company) which is owned by GSI. It also features a report of the GuideStar International Assembly in 2008 and a variety of related articles about the civil society sector.

GuideStar UK has produced a video which features views from a variety of stakeholders, such as local and international charitable organisations and grantmakers regarding the importance of information in the development of the sector. We would like to thank Dragonfly Productions, (previously Firefly Productions) for their generous support in the making of this film Have a look at the video.

The 3rd GuideStar Assembly entitled ‘From local to global: The importance of CSO information for citizen engagement’ was held at 2 Temple Place in London on the 2nd- 3rd December 2008. The Assembly gathered 90 people from 19 countries to discuss the ways in which information can empower civil society and decision-makers at all levels, to engage and surmount barriers that limit the civil society sector today. A report and presentations, are now available on the GSI website

The practice of evidence based policy has gained increasing endorsement in recent years, so much so that it could now reasonably be argued that no policy decision is justified without a strong evidence base to substantiate it. Drawing on the findings of the Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) programme at the Overseas Development Institute in London, this article will argue that a robust evidence base helps to underpin policy-decisions, both enriching the process and, perhaps more importa more...