The 'Scaling-up' of NGOs to the challenges of the EU : two case-studies of development NGOs in Germany

The following bachelor thesis stands in the broader context of the cooperation of the EU and civil society organizations. In the last decades civil society has gained momentum in Brussels (Zimmer/ Sittermann, 2005). And several proposals to enhance the cooperation between the EU institutions and non state actors have been published by the European Commission. However, this paper does not examine the attempts of the EU institutions, but the view point of civil society organizations. The focus is put on development NGOs and the sector of advocacy. The main research question in this context is, whether or not development NGOs change their way of working from project implementation to advocate activities, when they try to cooperate with the EU-level. These adaptation processes are referred to as scalingup. To gain a deeper insight into the topic and two interviews with German development NGOs have been conducted. The organizations which are presented in detail are the Kindernothilfe and Plan Deutschland. These empirical findings are compared, contrasted and discussed on the basis of the scientific debate. As result it could be made out that scaling-up processes only take place in order to be able to participate in networks. Scaling-up especially had to take place in regard to the gaining of expert knowledge and the allocation of resources. However, the actual actors on EU-level are not national NGOs, but umbrella organizations, which bundle the interest. Through this national based development NGOs manage to keep the costs of resources as low as possible, without ignoring the EU-level as important partner. Networks of high importance in this context are VENRO (the German NGO platform) and CONCORD the Euro Federation in the sector of development policies. Moreover European wide alliances with other organizations play a crucial role. The networks and umbrella group in Brussels can be seen as one part of the multi-levelgovernance of the EU, in which NGOs on national level also participate. Furthermore the participation in networks offers the possibility for development NGOs to concentrate on their original work of program implementation. Here also lays their main interest concerning EU-cooperation, which means the implementation of programs. To be able to do so their main focus is put on the gaining of EU grants and not on advocacy work.