people in partnership stewarding the planet for sustaining life in abundance

" The loss of worldly permanence and reliability does not entail, at least not necessarily, the loss of the human capacity for building, preserving, and caring for a world that can survive us and remain a place fit to live in for those who come after us."
Hannah Arendt, 1954

Introduction

URAIDE started on November 11, 2011 as a blog with personal reflections on civil society, based on experiences in Egypt, India and Ethiopia. In early 2012, URAIDE was registered as a social enterprise. It soon became apparent that the mission to build a strong civil society was best shaped from within that civil society itself. After a period of teaching and selling  some consulting products and services, I rejoined organizations. On May 1, 2020, I joined the Department of State as senior advisor on effectiveness. At the end of 2020, I ended URAIDE's registra;tion with the Chamber of Commerce. I kept the blog up and running for a while, but this proved somewhat difficult to combine with my work, which soon focused on the policy area of strengthening civil society that I had the privilege of working on for four years.  In general, civil servants are free to express themselves publicly about anything but to exercise restraint in relation to the policy area in which they work. I have now returned to my former position in the International Cooperation Office and may again focus on results measurement and aid effectiveness.
It is possible that I will return to this spot more often to talk about the subject that is close to my heart: the importance of a strong civil society for good governance, sustainable entrepreneurship and active citizenship, also in relation to the major changes in the world order that are now underway.

Reinier van Hoffen