NGOs: More than flower power

When Global Exchange decided to make Starbucks sell "fair trade" coffee, the nongovernmental organization campaigning for more thoughtful and fairer ways of running the world economy planned dramatic demonstrations outside the chain's outlets nationwide.

Within days of the first televised protest, Starbucks executives were visiting the group in San Francisco to discuss how they could offer consumers coffee made from beans grown under more humane conditions, and sold at more remunerative prices for poverty-stricken growers.

Today, Global Exchange and Starbucks work together to make "fair trade" a reality.

The deal is one in what a new report on the future of NGOs calls "early tremors" that "represent warning signs of seismic shifts" in the way increasingly powerful NGOs are operating.

With a turnover approaching $1 trillion a year, according to one study, and a reservoir of public trust much deeper than either governments or business enjoys, the international NGO sector could become "amongst the most influential institutions of the 21st century," in the words of John Elkington, coauthor of the study published by SustainAbility, a British consultancy company.

And signs indicate that many leaders in the field are "moving beyond a culture of criticism to one of engagement with business and other partners in a search for solutions" says Gavin Power, a spokesman for the UN Global Compact, which helped draw up the report.

But the shift, spurred by recognition of the power of market forces, is risky, the study warns. NGOs that have earned international credibility as watchdogs could be in danger of becoming lapdogs. Businesses that have concentrated on the short-term bottom line have now to focus on long-term prospects. Both sides have to ally themselves with people they once treated as enemies.

"We had to psychologically shift gears" in discussions with Starbucks, recalls Kevin Danaher, a cofounder of Global Exchange. Instead of confronting a corporation, and shaming it, "we were saying 'We want to help you.' "

The rewards are tempting, both for NGOs to inculcate their human values in the business world, and companies looking to grow their economic value. "Successful companies plan for the long haul," says Mokhethi Moshoeshoe, who runs the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship in Johannesburg. "If you are not acceptable in the communities where you operate, your business will fail and shareholders will not be happy."

SustainAbility's report, "The 21st Century NGO: In the Market for Change," points to cases where NGO cooperation with business has had mutual benefit. Amnesty International's section in Norway helped train employees of Statoil to spot and resolve human rights issues in the oil company's third-world operations, for example. In the Canadian province of Alberta, energy companies and NGOs work from the outset of every project on limiting environmental damage, giving NGOs a decisive say in planning, while the companies have an easier time with regulatory authorities.

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