Geoformations is a European Research Council funded project exploring how organisations engaged in development cooperation and humanitarian action cooperate and collaborate to deliver development outcomes.
More specifically, we are interested in understanding the spatial, scalar, and temporal dynamics of interactions between international and national non-governmental organisations, national and local actors, and civil society organisations working collaboratively to design and deliver sustainable development programs.
The core research questions explored through our work are:
- To what extent do transnational constellations of civil society organisations and non-governmental entities model just governance in practice?
- How are, or might these practices be evaluated and assessed?
Core Research Objectives
Governance Mapping
Map the governance, regulatory and policy landscape governing civil society relations and partnership models at multiple scales.
Assemblage Collaborations
Critically assess how and why international and national civil society collaborations form using assemblage thinking and methodologies.
Realist Evaluations
Develop novel critical realist evaluation methodologies to evaluate governance structures and processes and support comparative, internal, and peer evaluation in this space.
Governance Flows
Trace the intersecting governance functions and flows across spaces and territories to understand how and why governance responsibilities and processes are distributed, who is represented at each stage, what contextual factors influence power and decision-making, and how information, insights, knowledge, and experiences flow between entities.
Strategic Assemblies
Use issue framing through participant assemblies to explore the degree to which affected populations are engaged in assemblages of transnational organisational governance structures and processes and their opportunities to input into and have oversight of strategic planning activities.