A Civil Investing Strategy for Putting Communities in Charge

This paper reflects on the difficulties encountered by development assistance institutions when they try to incorporate the idea of investing in civic capacities into the process of funding development projects. It explores the possibility that this difficulty arises not because the idea is foreign to what these donors already do, but rather because it is so similar on the surface yet mandates a fundamental change in mindset and in the power relationship between donor and grantee.

Ramon E. Daubon is president of the Esquel Group.