How does a northern-based grantmaker reach small grassroots organizations in the South – what Rien van Gendt refers to as ‘the "darlings" of the international development community’? This issue of Alliance looks at some of the options. One approach increasingly being explored by donors of all types is the use of intermediary grantmakers. Another approach, exemplified by the Global Fund for Women and the Global Greengrants Fund, is the use of formal and informal networks of regional and country advisers to help identify local organizations to support. A new feature you will notice in this issue is the South Asia …

Yugoslavia has shown that effective cooperation between civic groups and donors can play a very significant role in the public policy arena. There is perhaps no other country in Europe where civil society organizations have played such a key role in changing the country’s destiny. In my view, having been privileged to cooperate with Yugoslav/Serbian NGOs over recent months, theirs was the best non-partisan election-related campaign developed by NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe. There have been several outstanding NGO campaigns in CEE countries in the last decade, but none on so large a scale or so creative. Learning from …