This essay aims to propose a theoretical reflection exercise on the governance of international cooperation for development. We argue about two broad development approaches (one is guided by an economic standpoint, the idea of progress and a normative universality, and the other one reflects a normative intention, although counter-hegemonic in relation to the dominant discourse on development, being guided by local, historical, cultural and territorial contextuality). We tend to believe that, rather than resist or agree with the NGOs or intergovernmental organizations from North, the civil society organizations and NGOs from South condescend to the strategies of the organizations from North. It is therefore interesting to identify how these organizations respond to the governance process within the international cooperation for development. In this sense, we will present concepts and purposes of international cooperation for development, its historical background and current issues, the varying roles of Brazil in this context, different approaches of development, origins and actors involved in governance of international cooperation for development. The article finishes with a few considerations.
international cooperation; development; third sector