Maximising the developmental impact of philanthropy: from theory to practice.

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Private philanthropy and charity is increasingly seen as a major component in the development process, especially in the context of the decline in international aid flows and the increasing numbers of lower middle income countries. Whilst there has been a considerable amount of work concerned with the role of major philanthropic trusts in development little attention has been paid to indigenous forms of charity. The research on which this proposal is based investigated the 'philanthroscape' of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in order to identify the potential role which charity and locally based philanthropic institutions could play in the development process. The present project will operationalise or translate these insights into practical actions through training, dissemination of suitable toolkits and a pilot project which seeks to mobilise charitable funds and organisations in a specific urban situation.From our earlier research in Colombo it is clear that most philanthropic activity takes place within specific social groupings and tends to reinforce existing social differences such as gender, age and religious identity. Furthermore, it is relatively unplanned and subject to individual idiosyncrasies, and tends towards a rather simplistic form of Social Protection which does little to challenge the underlying causes of poverty. In presentations and workshops held earlier this year and meetings with the Mayor of Colombo it became clear that there is considerable demand within the charitable sector for assistance in defining more sustainable and effective approaches to charitable and philanthropic activities amongst Sri Lankan charitable organisations, the general public and the corporate sector. This project will utilise the findings from our earlier research to meet this demand and generate a more professional and effective approach amongst Sri Lankan philanthropic institutions which utilise charitable donations. One strand of activities will involve workshops for relevant personnel to gain experience of best practice in the utilisation of charitable funds in development interventions. This strand will not only deal directly with charity and philanthropy but also with broader issues of how such resources can be harnessed to produce a more dynamic and sustainable approach to poverty elimination. It will combine the lessons learnt from the previous research project with the methods used by development agencies in planning and implementing development projects.The second strand will consist of a pilot project in one relatively poor area of Colombo. This will bring together a range of charitable organisations to work with the local population. The aim of this strand is to develop experience of inter-agency cooperation, build capacity of these organisations to design and implement initiatives which address the underlying causes of poverty rather than symptoms, and develop 'toolkits' for use in other contexts.Although focused on Colombo, this project has a much wider significance. In many ways it involves a learning process and the lessons learnt in the Colombo context will be relevant elsewhere in Asia and other parts of the world.This proposal relates to the ESRC/DFID joint scheme funded grant ref: ES/I033890/1.