In 2005, DuPont, an American chemical company and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an environmental advocacy group, engaged in a partnership aiming at ensuring responsible development of a new high-tech domain, nanoscale materials. The project was also aimed at communicating with the global public to improve the general understanding of these new technologies. Because such a project required a broad range of expertise, the partnership brought together both organizations, as well as many other stakeholders such as government agencies, companies, interest groups and universities. In 2007, DuPont and EDF released a 'Nano Risk Framework' on responsible nanoscale materials that was then put to the test and subsequently presented to the wide political and industrial audiences. The framework proved very important because it helped to identify and reduce environmental, health and safety risks posed by this new, developing technology. Why did DuPont and EDF, so different organizations, partner? Basically, both organizations needed the other's expertise and resources. The partnership proved to be highly effective and enabled not only a responsible development of nanoscale materials but also the distribution of an efficient framework.
[...] One of the most powerful and visible manifestations of this new organized civil society is the importance of NGOs within intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations. For instance, the 1992 Earth Summit organized in Rio de Janeiro by the U.N. gathered not only 172 governments, but also more than 1,400 NGOs (Demkine, 2000). The 2002 Earth Summit, at Johannesburg did not only gather even more NGOs, it also introduced a system of “partnerships initiatives” between governments and NGOs, instead of the traditional agreements between governments alone. [...]
[...] Analysis & Discussion: Towards a New Strategy, Cooperation Round three: a strategy of cooperation emerged between NGOs and corporations The partnership, an arrangement whereby at least two organizations join their forces, allows pooling of organizational resources to accomplish a specific task” (Macdonald and Chrisp, 2005). Indeed, “this approach is probably the most promising way to attack complex problems that call upon the skill, knowledge, and experience of a wide range of stake- holders in order to be successful and sustainable” (Dalberg, 2007). [...]
[...] “Institutional Emergence in an Era of Globalization: The Rise of Transnational Private Regulation of Labor and Environmental Conditions”. American Journal of Sociology, Vol No pp. 297-351. - Beck U. (1999). What is Globalization?. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. - Bendell, J. (2000). Terms for Endearment: Business, NGOs and Sustainable Development. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing. - Bendell, J. (2005). Whose Name? The Accountability of Corporate Social Responsibility”. Development in Practice, Vol No. pp. 362-374. - Brinkerhoff, J.M., Smith, S.C. and Teegen, H. [...]
[...] Rising Trend For NGO And The Private Sector Cooperation: Corporate Social Responsibility”. Turkish Weekly (December 23, 2006). - Keck, M.E. and Sikkink, K. (1998). Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. - Klemperer, P. (1998). “Auctions with Almost Common Values: The Wallet Game and its Applications”. European Economic Review, Vol No pp. 757-769. - Knox, S., Maklan, S. and French, P. (2005). “Corporate Social Responsibility: Exploring Stakeholder Relationships and Programme Reporting across Leading FTSE Companies”. [...]
[...] More generally, according to Heap (2001), public trust in NGOs has two main sources: their accountability and transparency on their work and governance; and their performance, that is to say the social value placed by civil society on their work. There is hardly any comprehensive set of data on public's trust in NGOs, mainly because it is hard to obtain relevant information (because of the variety of NGOs for example) and because it is different from a country to another, but according to an Environics and Gallup survey conducted in nearly 50 nations in of respondents said that they had a lot or some trust in NGOs, and 48% stated that they had little or no trust in global corporations (Karabulut and Demir, 2006). [...]
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