In this paper written following an NGO Leaders meeting on democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development held in October 2009, participants reflect on an emerging agenda on democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development, and their potential role in shaping its course.

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We’re happy to do so, in the hope that NGOs based in middle and low income countries will have project ideas that can make advances in getting democracy working for sustainable development.

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The United Nations Democracy Fund invites civil society organizations to apply for funding  

The United Nations Democracy Fund invites civil society organizations to apply for funding for projects to advance and support democracy. Project proposals may be submitted on-line between 16 November 2009 and 31 December 2009 at www.un.org/democracyfund, where applicants can also find guidelines, FAQs and lessons learned from previous rounds. Only on-line applications in either English or French will be accepted.

This is the Fourth Round of Funding to be launched by UNDEF, which was established by the UN Secretary-General in 2005 as a United Nations General Trust Fund. UNDEF funds projects that strengthen the voice of civil society and help ensure the participation of all groups in democratic processes.

The thematic categories for applications are:

       democratic dialogue and support for constitutional processes;

       civil society empowerment, including the empowerment of women;

       civic education and voter registration;

       citizen’s access to information;

       participation rights and the rule of law in support of civil society;

       transparency and integrity.

The selection process is expected to be highly rigorous and competitive, For the Third Round, fewer than 70 project proposals were selected out of more than 2,100 received.

UNDEF funding ranges from US $50,000 to US $500,000, with most projects in the mid-range.  It is anticipated that the vast majority of applicants and short-listed project proposals will emanate from local civil society organizations.

Non-governmental organisations in the UK are already a hot-bed for innovation in both democracy and sustainable development. But the two sets of concerns have not yet come together.

We wanted to see what could happen when civil society leaders are invited to think about the relevance of their existing work to the goal of equipping democracy for sustainable development. There is a huge body of existing thinking and practice that lies just below the surface of work and advocacy on themes like citizen empowerment, social innovation, localisation, community development, climate change and social justice.

Partnering with environmental justice NGO Capacity Global, we co-convened a meeting of ten leaders from a range of UK-based democracy, community development and environmental organisations in October 2009. 

The resulting network offers a space for an exchange of information among peers, drawing out implications on the wider relevance of the ‘democracy and sustainable development’ theme and exploring the potential for future collaboration between NGO leaders.

A background paper on democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development written by Maria Adebowale and Halina Ward is available for download.

Discussions at our first meeting led to a co-authored paper produced in December 2009: Democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development; Issues and approaches for civil society in the UK: an emerging agenda.

Network participant Charles Secrett has also produced a paper outlining a revolutionary pathway to democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development by way of further contribution to our discussions.

Participants in the network are now working to develop a joint project on community groups, democracy and sustainable development. This will offer a focal point for future exchanges as we continue to pursue our shared emerging agenda.

Leaders are invited to participate in the network as individuals. Their organisations include Involve, Community Sector Coalition, Democratic Audit, Capacity Global, Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development, Community Development Foundation, the Eden Project, the Environment Council, the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement and the Hansard Society.

In this discussion paper for The Environment Foundation’s March 2008 events and discussions on democracy and sustainability, Ian Christie critically examines four propositions: democracy is crucial for humane and just sustainable development; democracy poses huge problems for sustainable development; sustainable development NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are a massive success for civil society worldwide; sustainable development NGOs are a massive failure by their own standards. The paper goes on to outline links between democracy and climate change.

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