Cooking in someone elses kitchen -The influence of INGOs on civil society in Lao PDR

Abstract: During the past decades, an increasing amount of support and attention has been paid to the status of local civil society in developing countries. At the same time, a transnational civil society has emerged, a complex web of organizations within which professional and institutional INGOs take centre stage. This thesis investigates the role of INGOs in the evolvement of local civil society in authoritarian regimes. This has been done through a case study of Laos, one of the least developed countries in the world, where what is still an embryo of civil society is beginning to proliferate. Material has been gathered through interviews conducted with INGO workers in Laos during an 8 week long field study. The opinions and reflections of the INGO informants show how various strategies are used to promote events and activities that can be considered beneficial for the status of Lao civil society. The INGOs choose differing courses in their ambition to support civil society and take adverse stands on what role they should play in this process and how they should act in relation to the state. This further highlights the complexity of the tangled relationships, channels and methods brought into play by different actors.