Global Policy Forum

By Kelly Currah

In the sixteenth century, rich individuals could be absolved of their sins by purchasing an indulgence from the church. The flagrant flogging of indulgences by the Pope to raise funds to build St Peter's in Rome led Martin Luther to nail his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, unleashing the Reformation.

The practice has been revived by international non-governmental organisations. Today corporations can purchase indulgences - or partnerships, to use the new lexicon - from NGOs to absolve their sins of corporate irresponsibility.

Practitioners of partnerships hail these business-NGO relationships as the way forward. Cross-sector collaboration, they say, is the new paradigm in sustainable development. Even the UN and the World Bank have started partnership programmes with corporations. But what are the real consequences for the poor?

Many long-standing corporate campaigning groups argue that partnerships run counter to the objectives of NGOs and are not effective ininfluencing corporate social responsibility. The genetically modified food debate is a case in point. Despite a number of successful local partnerships with NGOs, Monsanto continued to develop its controversial "terminator" seed programme which, if implemented, could have had devastating effects on farmers in developing countries.

In some cases, corporations use the partnerships to influence NGO behaviour. One international development agency was approached by a large tobacco manufacturer proposing a partnership to help communities in the developing world. But there was a proviso: that the NGO stop funding an anti-tobacco campaign in Asia.

Many campaigning groups are increasingly worried that corporations are entering relations with well-known NGOs to lend legitimacy to their operations abroad. NGO independence is crucial. But the dynamics of these partnerships diminish confrontation, opposition and transparency.

In the end, traditional campaigning tactics remain the best way to make corporations address their business practices. The exposure by pressure group Global Witness of De Beers and the role of the diamond industry in perpetuating conflict in Angola, for example, has had international ramifications. The entire industry has reassessed its operations. Greenpeace's direct action in GM crop trials eventually drove Monsanto to shelve the terminator technology.

The problem with partnerships lies not so much in the nature of the relationship as in in objectives. Despite the grand rhetoric, when it comes to negotiating the terms of the partnerships, there is a tendency to revert to fundamental organisational aims: reputation enhancement at the local and international level for the business and access to financial resources for the NGO. Hence, most NGOs give the responsibility for corporate partnerships to the fund-raising department, rather than to their advocacy department.

The protests of Seattle are the modern day equivalent of Luther's theses on the church door. And, as the invention of the printing press in the 15th century gave momentum to the Reformation, the internet is fuelling another reformation of civil society. Campaigners will use it to denounce those who sell indulgences without demanding the redress of social injustices.

Kelly Currah is a policy officer with World Vision.

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