Chair of Friendship Luxembourg speaks to the students and staff of Dhaka University
Friendship News Desk
September 14, 2022
Chair of Friendship Luxembourg and co-chair of Friendship International, Marc Elvinger attended an interactive discussion session as a guest lecturer at the University of Dhaka on September 12, 2022. The session, titled “ unequal partnership agreements as a factor of unsustainability in international non-governmental development cooperation” was hosted by the Centre on Budget and Policy, of the Department of Development Studies, at the 101-year-old university in the capital of Bangladesh.
Professor Kazi Maruful Islam organised the event, introduced Marc Elvinger and facilitated an interactive Q&A session after the talk by the speakers, attended by both faculty and students.
“Too often, partnership agreements are, to the largest extent, a tool in the hands of funding organizations to impose the implementation of a given project of which they have defined the subject matter and the mode of intervention, and which they require their “implementing partners” to abide to. These funding organizations may be working in many different countries and will, in many instances, have developed a single pattern of intervention and preset modes of working, with only limited, if not minimal, consideration for adaptation to the specific circumstances in which a given project will have to be implemented.
This is certainly a factor of limited sustainability of such projects because they may not truly meet the priority needs of the local communities, nor duly take into account local constraints, whether social, environmental or other,” said Marc during his lecture.
Friendship is an international Social Purpose Organisation guided by its vision of a world where people—especially the hard to reach and unaddressed—have equal opportunities to live with dignity and hope. Founded 20 years ago, Friendship reaches 7 million people in remote and climate-impacted communities with innovative solutions fulfilling four commitments: Saving Lives, Poverty Alleviation, Climate Adaptation and Empowerment. The interventions are designed to be values-driven, needs-based, have a participative approach towards an integrated development model that fosters an entrepreneurial mindset.
