Bilateral donors
These are agents used by governments to fund or deliver country-to-country development assistance. They may be ministries, such as the donor country's ministry of development cooperation, foreign affairs, or education. Or, they might be bilateral agencies that are government-owned and funded, such as the British Council, the German Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), or the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In general, bilateral donors have resources, technical expertise, formal diplomatic access, and legitimacy with recipient governments. Bilateral donors almost always consult primarily with the recipient government on defining their programs. They usually have regular contact with other bilateral donors and international organizations based in your country. In some cases, bilateral agencies also consult with the NGO community in the recipient country. They often fund NGOs from their own country that are active in the recipient country. Bilateral donors can be contacted through the donor country's embassy or the office of the bilateral agency in your country.
The program of a bilateral donor is usually based on the particular strengths, expertise, and experience of the donor country. For example, Germany has an international reputation in technical education and training; the United Kingdom in publishing; and France in culture and arts. Many donor countries provide at least some support to promote their language and culture in the recipient country. Bilateral programs are often multi-year commitments with fixed-priority program areas. The size and scope of bilateral programs reflects the economic situation in the donor country and its political, trade, and historical relations with the recipient country.
The donor country's government usually decides on priorities and on major, high-cost projects in a given country. The programs of bilateral donors do not necessarily reflect locally assessed priorities or requests. The donor country's diplomatic and bilateral agency staff in the recipient country is normally consulted in decision making. Programs may be therefore be influenced by their particular concerns and interests. Thus, building and implementing a partnership with a bilateral donor can be complex and time-consuming.
Ambassadors of the donor country may have modest discretionary funds available in your country for special events or urgent projects. In general, these funds cannot be used for program overhead or operating costs.
In gaining access to bilateral donors and their resources, it is important to understand who decides on programs and funding and where decisions are made. The key contacts may vary among bilateral donors. It may be necessary to build relationships with the diplomatic representatives at the donor's embassy in your country, staff of the bilateral agency that are resident in or visiting your country, or bureaucrats of the bilateral agency or relevant ministry back in the capital of the donor country.
Bilateral donors and the Soros foundations might collaborate in the following ways:
In forming partnerships with the Soros foundations, bilateral donors often seek and expect public recognition of their contribution to enhance their image and profile in the recipient country. Building partnerships with bilateral donors is likely to be more difficult in countries where the national government's relation with either the donor country or the Soros foundations is unfriendly or hostile.
