Volume 10

  • In English only
  • Often the primary barriers to improving women's health are rooted in socio-economic, legal, and cultural factors. Women are generally assigned subordinate status in terms of economic power, decision making, and options regarding education, work, and family. National laws often restrict or prohibit equality and choice within society. Thus, the improvement of reproductive health is not only a matter of effective health interventions, but also a matter of social justice and human rights. This article discusses how the international human rights (IHR) system can be used more effectively for the protection and promotion of reproductive rights. In particular, it focuses how IHR treaties can play an important role in fostering state compliance with rights relating to reproductive and sexual health. It ends with a discussion on how NGO advocacy work can better collaborate with the treaty body monitoring process in order to advance women's reproductive rights.
  • Good governance is currently seen as a means to development with decentralisation acting as one of its main tools.This paper illustrates how development institutions use decentralisation as a technical tool, neglecting its essentially political aspects.
  • This paper is concerned with the requirements of microfinance organisations (MFOs) that seek both to reduce poverty and to become increasingly financially self-reliant. They need information on their impact in order to improve the services they offer. But impact assessment (IA) work has generally been carried out primarily to comply with the accountability requirements of their financial sponsors. This Note advocates re-orienting IA towards the MFO's own strategic decision processes, and integrating it more closely with internal monitoring.
  • This paper reports on an attempt in Zimbabwe to use methods and techniques commonly associated with rural contexts, Rapid Rural Assessment (RRA) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), to undertake an assessment of the needs and perceptions of private sector enterprises in two urban settings. These participatory methods were well received and also facilitated dialogue among different, and sometimes mutually hostile, stakeholders.
  • Full-text sample article FREE from Taylor & Francis. Participatory methods are increasingly being used in development work at grassroots level in Africa. Western liberal concepts like `one person one vote' underlie these methods. However, such concepts may not be easily compatible with a grassroots reality in which ethnicity (i.e. superior and subordinate ethnic identities) is an important factor shaping the social order. This article provides insights into the socio-political realities of ethnicity at village level in Botswana. The tension between participatory methods and the ethnically-structured village reality are illustrated with examples from a project that tested the relevance of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in Botswana. The authors identify problems and opportunities of participatory methods in addressing the inequalities in ethnically divided communities. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development Methods and Approaches: Critical Reflections and Development and Culture.
  • While gender has become a central factor in development, age and older people are seldom considered, and many organisations assume a top-down, non-participatory model of care - even when these organisations are otherwise engaged in sustainable and partipatory development. This paper looks at how older people have been involved in sustainable community-based care efforts in Southeast Asia, and argues that the key factor for project success is the building of 'social capacity' - the ability of a social group or community to function and care for its older members - which depends on the strategic approach to participation taken by the project.
  • There is considerable focus nowadays on the involvement of communities in planning their own projects. Much of this involvement is in the form of verbal communication whereby villagers inform development workers of their problems and how they propose to solve them. Drawing on experience from two projects in Uganda and Ethiopia, this article argues that the starting point for any project planning in a community context is the current practice of that community. It is argued that if one looks at the community's practice, beliefs, and knowledge, one has a firmer foundation on which to build a project.
  • The 1998 floods, which inundated much of Bangladesh, had a major effect on the lives and work of urban slum children. Lack of work opportunities, and beliefs about appropriate roles for young children, meant that the floods did not lead to great increases in workforce entry and in some cases led to a reduction the opportunities available. Children's domestic work was also affected. Children's paid and domestic work had an important impact on how well households survived during and after the floods. The findings highlight the simultaneously beneficial and harmful nature of much child labour, and are therefore relevant to the dilemmas that face policy makers in this area. The research reported on in this article also has implications for those involved in disaster relief policy making.
  • The ethos of technical assistance in emergency relief work has emphasised the importance of recruiting people with appropriate professional and technical skills to work under the difficult circumstances of disasters. The authors used the Critical Incident Technique to assess job-related skills that were seen to be crucial for the achievement of the objectives towards which emergency relief personnel were working. Fifteen Irish nurses, working predominantly in refugee camps, identified over 60 different work objectives and 54 distinct job-related skills. It is argued that greater account should be taken of the variety of objectives which motivates such field workers. The job-related skills identified were primarily process- rather than outcome-oriented skills, and the authors hold that a greater emphasis should be placed on the development of fluid as opposed to crystallised skills. The possibilities of using the Critical Incident Technique as a mechanism for feeding back authentic field experience and operationalising effective process skills is discussed.
  • The paper presents the major differences between the approaches to project planning known as Logical Framework Approach (LFA) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and discusses whether these can be used in a complementary fashion. It is suggested that LFA be used to provide the overall structure of the planning process while PRA may be used in discussions and to place decision making at the grassroots. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development Methods and Approaches: Critical Reflections
  • Stepping Stones is a training package on HIV/AIDS, gender, communication, and relationship skills designed both for use in existing HIV/AIDS projects and more generally. Narrating her experience of a training of trainers programme in India, the author explores the possibilities and challenges of using this as a means of integrating gender into HIV/AIDS projects.
  • Needs assessments of adults and children in households affected by HIV/AIDS in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa indicate that food provision is a critical support area which has been neglected in mitigation interventions. This paper looks at practical options for targeting food aid within a development framework, using Zambia as a case country.
  • This paper attempts to draw some lessons from the experience of development NGOs throughout the world over the last five decades. It starts by describing the meaning of alternative development paradigm as practised by NGOs. It then examines some of the major socio-political changes that have occurred in recent years, and their impact on development NGOs. Finally, it outlines some key dilemmas facing development NGOs, and their potential implications for their future roles and contributions at the start of the new millennium. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • The forces associated with economic globalisation and the apparent supremacy of market forces have unleashed a range of political and social processes that have served, and were indeed designed, to enrich and empower the few at the expense of the majority. These include phenomena such as the rise in armed conflict, threats to food security, the loss of livelihoods and traditional ways of life of millions of people worldwide, the commodification of social provision, assaults on national sovereignty, and the privatisation of citizenship. However, the author argues, the most significant impact of globalisation is the `localisation' of social and political struggle, and the emergence of new forms of international solidarity. Many NGOs have too readily succumbed to the view that globalisation in its present form is inevitable and irreversible, and have accommodated to it by trading their essential values for technical professionalism, often imported from the private sector. However, if NGOs are to assume their place as part of a transformational movement for social justice, they must re-discover and foster the values of citizen participation and develop a genuine respect for diversity. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • This paper analyses the significance and scope of the globalisation process, focusing on its implications for the autonomy of national actors, on the one hand, and on the new demands that global governance imposes upon multilateral action, on the other. It is argued that the current form of globalisation is in fact compatible with some degree of autonomous coordinated social action outside the realm of the market. This allows us both to differentiate between the realities and mystification (i.e. ideology) that underlie the concept of globalisation and to reject the standard discourse and economic therapy offered by certain international organisations to developing countries. If globalisation does not rule out the possibility of autonomous national-level action, it also establishes the basis for more solid and effective multilateral action. The factors that support the need for such action in the future are analysed, action that responds to demands for greater management of international public assets, and to calls for more effective global governance. The article ends by analysing the necessary characteristics of such a multilateral system if it is to meet the needs arising from a new international reality. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • This article examines why the World Bank adopted neo-liberal economic policies. It argues that neo-liberal discourse favoured the interests of key Northern actors, and, more surprisingly, that it also allowed many Southern state actors to maintain or extend their political power. This is because World Bank discourse offers little or no political analysis of the state, instead focusing on `technical' issues of economic adjustment. While there may now be a certain shift in World Bank discourse towards somewhat greater acceptance of a role for the state, there is still a widespread absence of a political analysis, which means that dominant power relations will still not be fundamentally acknowledged or challenged. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • In recent years, both the corporate sector and civil society organisations, particularly international NGOs, have become more influential in shaping development debates and policies. There is increasing awareness within the corporate sector of the need to demonstrate social responsibility; and growing acceptance among NGOs that business is essential to the economic growth which will fuel social development. This paper shows how the two sectors can engage constructively in order to establish and monitor standards, though it also argues the need for some pressure groups to retain an uncompromising and radical agenda in order to keep the critical debates alive. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • Interest in partnerships between international NGOs and the corporate sector is growing as both sectors see their roles changing in response to increasing consumer awareness about social, environmental, and human rights issues. This article presents the case of the partnership between the sports goods industry, The Save the Children Fund (SCF), and various international and local organisations in the district of Sialkot in Pakistan. The author uses this case in order to discuss the important elements of a cross-sectoral partnership, the considerations for the various parties that enter into such partnerships, and the implications of these partnerships with the corporate sector for the future of NGOs and their vision of development. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • Development NGOs are in crisis. They are losing their capacity to engage in critical analysis and propose global solutions; to react to or seize the political initiative; or to situate themselves on the cutting edge of those social and political processes in which new approaches and potential solutions might be found. While some NGOs have sought to accommodate themselves around donors' policies and projects that focus on reducing the negative effects of structural adjustment, the raison d'être of NGOs is to have the autonomy, initiative, and flexibility that the non-governmental status confers upon them. A growing split between NGOs' capacity to lobby and do research and their grassroots work reflects a deeper division that exists - both practical and theoretical - between the concept and process of development and the concept and process of democratisation. The author argues that human development and participative and representative democracy are both mutually reinforcing and indivisible and that the challenge the NGOs face is to link - theoretically and practically- democracy with development. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • In this overview essay, the co-editors examine the new challenges and opportunities facing development NGOs in relation to their relevance, their mission, relations between Northern and Southern NGOs and with other agents of power, including business, and their effectiveness. There is a balance to be drawn between keeping up with emerging issues and agendas, and retaining the values that underpin their integrity and unique nature. NGOs saw phenomenal growth in the neo-liberal policy environment that flourished in the late twentieth century, but this very prominence means that more questions are being asked about their accountability, and about their mandates. Will the twenty-first century see NGOs still living complacently in the past, or will they genuinely rise to the challenges ahead? This editorial overview is freely available as the opening chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • Full-text sample article FREE from Taylor & Francis. After 50 years of spectacularly successful work (particularly in raising the equity stakes, improving the quality of ODA, fostering Southern NGO work at the international level, and organising quick and effective humanitarian assistance), Northern development NGOs have come to a crossroads. Van Rooy argues that the history of the NGO `occupational category', coupled with a changing political and economic environment (the end of the cold war, rising international investment, declining ODA, and vastly heightened Southern NGO capacity), means that most Northern NGOs should close up shop. Instead, a kaleidoscopic rebirth is envisaged, where four key functions remain for Northerners (as humanitarian agents, economic policy watchers, North-South brokers, and corporate responsibility advocates). This change of job is heralded as good news: evidence that the project of global social justice has moved dramatically forward.
  • This paper questions whether development agencies and their staff, at whatever level (community-based organisations, national or international NGOs) are sufficiently clear about their own values and roles, and seeks to analyse tensions and dilemmas that arise when roles are confused. Clarity about the roles of the people and agencies involved is essential for the development of a valid global citizens' movement that can inter-connect local and global problems and actors, and work towards sustainable solutions. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • Every organisation has certain core convictions about its endeavours and about the ways to go about its work. When these convictions are translated into relatively enduring practices they can be called organisational values. Managing an organisation's value system is an important strategic task in itself, and the concepts and methods for undertaking this task are examined in this paper. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • While the forces of globalisation have intensified economic polarisation, diverse social movements worldwide are struggling to defend the public interest and to promote a more rights-based and sustainable form of organising human society. In allying themselves with the causes of the dispossessed at the local level, and raising international awareness of such issues, NGOs have a part to play in building a more equitable global order. However, NGOs urgently need to find better ways to link these struggles with their analysis, their action, and their ethical values. This article is freely available as the opening chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • This article reports the results of and conclusions from a survey of Northern NGOs conducted during 1998 and 1999 for the purposes of testing generalised criticisms of Northern NGO advocacy and providing benchmarks further research on the policy impact of the Washington Advocacy office of Oxfam International. Based on the survey findings, the author challenges Northern NGOs more thoroughly to evaluate their advocacy so that they may effectively demonstrate their advocacy achievements and, by so doing, confidently invest a greater proportion of resources into advocacy programmes which effectively contribute to their goals of reducing poverty. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Advocacy and in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • NGO campaigns have become increasingly high profile in recent years. Three contemporary examples are critically examined (Brent Spar, landmines, and international debt), both in terms of the various ingredients behind their success, and in relation to their real significance and long-term impact. The author looks at the trade-offs, challenges, and opportunities for NGO-sponsored campaigns within a changing political order and in the light of the potential offered by New Media. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Advocacy and in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • The growing crisis of external indebtedness in the South has become the focus not only of multilateral policy debate, but also the subject of an increasingly vocal international anti-debt campaign, the influence of which was clear at the abortive World Trade Organisation at Seattle in December 1999. Though effective, however, the anti-debt campaign encompasses a range of different positions, which result in diverse strategies and tactics. This paper examines the reasons for and implications of such differences, particularly in relation to North-South solidarity and action, and makes the case for Northern campaigners and lobbyists to take their principal lead from anti-debt groups that are mobilising public opinion in the South. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Advocacy and in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • NGO advocacy is sometimes portrayed in a heroic light, but efforts to influence World Bank-supported economic policies confront considerable ambiguity. Influence is difficult to demonstrate, but advocacy should be more rigorously assessed in the interest of transparency and effectiveness. Two (partial) solutions to this ambiguity are to focus on the process of NGO campaigns themselves; and to monitor impact on component parts of a model of institutional change at the Bank. This article assesses a recent advocacy campaign by testing it against five criticisms of NGO campaigning, then proposes that NGO advocates develop a practical model of policy change and monitor and evaluate their efforts with reference to the model's component parts. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Advocacy and in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • The conventional (but false) dichotomy between humanitarianism and development, hitherto grounded in the perceived differences between international humanitarian law and international human rights law respectively, is not merely unhelpful in practical terms but also serves to diminish our understanding of the shared issues underlying the two discourses. There are welcome signs, however, of a growing recognition that all development and relief work is essentially rights-based and of efforts to integrate thinking and practice under one common set of principles. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development Methods and Approaches: Critical Reflections and in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • Despite a growing emphasis by aid agencies on local participation and consultation, the recipients of aid commonly have mixed, if not hostile, responses to relief assistance. Agencies need to acknowledge the inequalities that are inherent in an aid relationship, and be more judicious in determining their proper role. Finally, the author calls for aid providers and recipients to accept our innate human equality and our circumstantial inequality in order to establish relationships of mutual respect and contemporaneous enjoyment of each other. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development, Women and War: Feminist Perspectives and in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • This paper examines the application of the Local Capacities for Peace framework in field operations in Sudan, and identifies lessons learned about planning and implementation in the World Vision programme over a 20-month period. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • Is it preferable for aid agencies to listen to their prophetic calling and risk their hard-earned credibility by engaging in advocacy that is intended to avert disasters, or should NGOs instead be wary of calling wolf too often? Written from the perspective of an advocacy practitioner, this article looks at the conflicting pressures on NGOs both to scale-up and to limit advocacy during disasters. It is important to evaluate NGOs' motives and also the impact of their preventive advocacy efforts: whenever advocacy is an issue, questions of accountability, veracity, and legitimacy are never far from the surface. The paper ends with a plea to NGOs to take seriously their credibility as a resource which should be risked, where necessary, as part of the overall humanitarian ethic of saving lives. The dangers of appearing self-serving and misleading are genuine, but ultimately the potential to change dire events is too important to be surrendered lightly. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • The concept of capacity building is elusive, and our current approaches are doomed to failure, not because we lack adequate models, but because these approaches are in themselves inadequate. This article attempts to outline some of the fundamental shifts which a new form of approach to capacity building would entail, the first shift being from the tangible to the intangible, and the second being from static model to a developmental reading. Some of the consequences of such shifts are discussed. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development Methods and Approaches: Critical Reflections and in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • As the century has just changed for the Western calendar it may be appropriate to bear in mind that for a vast part of the world the centuries are different and rolling at a different time and under different conditions. So, although we live and trade in a global village we are yet divided by time, space, and ideologies. The hope is that the twentieth century will enable us to have a closer look at each other and that the global network, the websites, and the electronic mailing systems will work as a bridge rather than a new means of widening the gaps. This article is a plea for a better understanding of the different priorities and views that Islamist women have of themselves, of their place in history, and what it is that they need to fight for. It is also a call for the universality of sisterhood and a wish that the solidarity that was forged in latter part of the twentieth century will not be fragmented into smithereens in the new millennium. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future and in Development and Culture.
  • While women's movements in Latin America and elsewhere have succeeded in putting many issues that are relevant to women and to gender relations onto the political agenda, and although most international aid agencies have made efforts to incorporate gender analysis into their work, this progress has been neither comprehensive nor unproblematic. This article focuses on ways in which the development co-operation agenda, and the priorities and working methods of development agencies and NGOs, have served to distort the vision and practice of the women's organisations whose work they seek to support. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • This article summarises the results of a joint action-research project undertaken by a number of international and local NGOs, which involved case studies in four countries in Africa, three in South Asia , one in Latin America, and one in the UK. The paper seeks to situate the discussion of impact assessment in the context of a growing critique of international NGOs. Overall, it is suggested that simple models of cause and effect which link project inputs to outputs and impact, although important, are usually inadequate for assessing the impact of what NGOs do. Instead, the author recommends the need to develop models that embrace the wider context of influences and change processes that surrounds projects and programmes, and the broad-ranging impacts that result. A major conclusion to emerge from the case studies is that the ability to select a judicious mix, and sequence, of tools and methods is vital. The paper concludes by looking at the broader policy implications of the studies notably in relation to: dealing with the problems of attribution and aggregation; exploring the issue of poverty reach and gender relations; warning aganist simplistic use of impact assessment to allocate resources; and in suggesting how impact assessment can be part of a 'virtous circle' of change that can help promote greater accountability and learning among international NGOs. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • The question of how development agencies should assess their impact has no simple answers and so is often either unasked, or is framed in terms that privilege time-bound and quantitative findings. Describing a council estate neighbourhood project in the UK, the author probes the understandings and perceptions of different stakeholders concerning what they believe has changed over the life of the project, and to what they would attribute those changes. The findings suggest that the impact of development interventions is always contingent upon many factors and can only be properly viewed over time; and that many of the most critical factors in shaping change are intangible and have to do with a wide range of social relations and with human motivation and drive, both individual and collective. The author does not present a `blueprint' for how to conduct impact assessment, but offers some insights into how to frame the questions and interpret the answers. This article is freely available as a chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • This paper argues that the distinctive values common to many NGOs gives them a particular advantage over other types of organisations. This perspective should be seen in the context of donors' increasing willingness to fund non-traditional development actors, including the military, parastatals, quangos, private service contractors, and consultancy firms. To distinguish themselves from other recipients of aid funding, NGOs need to identify, articulate, and nurture their core values and identity. The paper identifies some of the key indicators that best reflect values and organisational capacities that distinguish NGOs from other agencies. The concern is that if NGOs lose their core values they lose their role. This article is freely available as the opening chapter in Debating Development: NGOs and the Future.
  • Literacy programmes conventionally focus solely on non-literates and use a 'learn first, do later' model that is ill-suited to adult learning. Programmes based on existing groups (whether function- or location-based), and which use a 'learn through doing' approach, are more likely to be successful both in achieving literacy and in reinforcing other development goals. This paper reviews the theory and practice of adult literacy programmes.
  • This paper describes the Participatory Change Process (PCP), a model that promotes the formation and action of sustainable grassroots organisations in poor and marginalised communities, using participatory learning and action methods to provide people with the capacities, self-confidence, and organisational structures needed to plan and implement development projects and influence policy formation. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development Methods and Approaches: Critical Reflections
  • Conferences are typically organised around specialist presentations and panel discussions in ways that do not foster broad participation or effective knowledge-sharing. The paper describes a computer-based method to facilitate focused dialogue among participants.
  • The author reports on the triennial conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), held in Paris in 1999. He found a disturbing lack of historical analysis and awareness, and a surprising dearth of discussion of the value of knowledge, or information sharing, in the North-South relationship of the future.
  • The author reports on this conference held in Tromsö, Norway, in June 1999. Discussion centred on the discourse of `gender' and on the women's movement, and the author considers these themes from the dual viewpoint of the practitioner and the academic.
  • This Conference Report presents the recommendations taken from a Summary Report of the South Asian Agenda Regional Meeting for South Asia, held in New Delhi, India in 1999. The event was convened by the Disaster Mitigation Institute (DMI) and supported by the Department for International Development (DfID) of the British government. Measures to reduce the disaster vulnerability of poor communities, to improve the standard of, and review public expenditure on, relief, for example, are discussed.
  • In English only
  • This article looks at the lessons learned in reviewing two long-running international campaigns, one to promote breastfeeding in Ghana, and the other against the use of child labour in the carpet industry in India. In particular, it focuses on understanding the nature of campaigns and what makes them effective. It asserts that campaigns are not linear or mechanistic, but need to be understood as passing through various stages and requiring different kinds of action at different levels and at different times. The variety of work and skills thus required make it vital that the various organisations involved collaborate with each other. In particular, grassroots mobilisation has a role in bringing about sustained policy change that is often forgotten. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Advocacy.
  • In the 1990s, fair trade, as practised by alternative trading organisations (ATOs), has evolved from a solidarity to a partnership model. This paper explores the nature of fair trade partnership using a case study of Cafédirect and one of its suppliers, the KNCU in Tanzania. For ATOs, fair trade is articulated in terms of a partnership with both producers and consumers. Partnership in this paper is conceived in terms of a fusion of the market and ethics in the links in the supply chain from the producer and consumer, the core partnership being that between the ATO and the producer organisation. The case study is used to highlight the elements of the partnership that are necessary for a fair trade relationship to 'work', highlighting the importance of participation by the producer partner.
  • Agricultural co-operatives have been promoted in India's economic development programme as a means of encouraging large-scale agricultural production while enhancing community Cupertino and equity. Focusing on sugar co-operatives in Gujarat state of western India, the author shows that these co-operatives have been successful in promoting large-scale agricultural production and in improving the economic and social standing of their members. This success, however, has been built upon the exploitation and pauperisation of local landless communities and migrant labourers. As a result, there has been an increased differentiation of the peasantry in south Gujarat.
  • By exploring two approaches to organisational change, gender and organisational development (OD), the author argues that OD is flawed since it perpetuates existing gender inequalities by failing to address them. By contrast, the gender approach brings change both for women and for men and is contextualised in a broader agenda of social transformation. Analysis of how power is gendered is the critical starting point. While gender is not disconnected from other forms of oppression - such as race and class - special attention needs to be given to gender because experience has shown it gets 'lost'. The article seeks to contribute to breaking new ground in theory and practice in order to promote organisations that are both equitable and effective. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development Methods and Approaches: Critical Reflections
  • The paper considers the effectiveness of different strategies used in urban areas by development agencies to reduce poverty, including the relative merits of income generation and housing and neighbourhood improvement. Drawing on the findings of recent case studies, it suggests that the advantages of housing and neighbourhood improvements may have been under-estimated, and that too little attention has been given to integrating housing and neighbourhood improvement with income-generation.
  • Educational and societal development programmes in the Third World have paid too little attention to the facilitative and motivational merits of using indigenous languages. From primary education through to development activities among adults, the use of a non-indigenous language may in itself hinder the development process. In academic institutions, more interaction between the two fields of language planning and development studies is needed.
  • The author examines the contemporary liwac or barter system in Addis Ababa, a thriving part of the informal economy which involves the exchange of household goods for second-hand clothes and shoes. He concludes that this form of transaction positively co-exists with and is not superseded by the monetised economy.
  • This paper describes the relative advantages and disadvantages of formal Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (RoSCAs), in contrast with informal RoSCAs, as seen in Argentina. NGOs, it is argued, are not in a good position to use the formal RoSCA structure to developmental advantage, since they could not manage the risk assessment or legal framework necessary with formal RoSCAs, which do not rely on social censure and capital for their operation.
  • Based on primary research, this paper describes the negative human, occupational, and environmental impacts of the Kiraz Dere dam project in Turkey, concluding that financial compensation for people who are displaced by such projects is unlikely in itself to lead to the resettlement recommended by agencies such as the World Bank.
  • In English only
  • Full-text sample article
  • MOPAWI is an NGO in La Mosquitia, Honduras, working with indigenous communities in the region to create ecological sustainability and to strengthen technical knowledge and resource management. This paper presents the findings of research into how MOPAWI has `created linkages among the grassroots, the state, and ultimately the international level of politics in practice.' The strategic role of NGOs, and their ability to work across these levels, is discussed.
  • The author discusses the importance of rural family poultry (RFP) in Africa as an income generating and/or subsistence asset for families, particularly highlighting the gender dimension of RFP, since women are often the main owners of, and carers for, chickens. RFP development programmes must take account of other demands on women's time, but should aim to keep profits in the hands of women, increase production (for nutritional and financial gains), facilitate setting up co-operatives and, through these, the provision of training and supplies (making use of economies of scale).
  • This paper examines a Community Banking Scheme set up in Nigeria in 1991, in terms of its financial capabilities - `deposit mobilisation capability, and the value and ratio of its loan portfolio' - and considers four examples of its non-banking development functions. The author believes community banks have much development potential, and, while stating that the Scheme `has had mixed achievements', argues that the growth of non-banking facilities, and increased collaboration with self-help groups or NGOs, should lead to greater success.
  • The author summarises the results of research into the health of older adults in Malawi, India, and Tanzania, which found high levels of malnutrition and anaemia among them, as well as, and linked to, poor functional ability. The data suggests the need for development agencies to specifically consider older adults - who form an increasing proportion of the population - in their programme work, since the problems highlighted arise from poverty-related factors.
  • The author reports on this conference, held in Tokyo in 1999, which brought together leading development thinkers and practitioners, and finance experts. The main discussions are summarised, often with reference to the recent Asian financial crisis, and the author states that the IMF's apparent neglect of the link between finance and development was worrying, and evidence of the need for its reform.
  • As part of a human rights education campaign, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) fixed 700,000 posters throughout Bangladesh. This met with opposition from religious organisations. This paper investigates the nature and cause of the backlash and sets out strategies for how development organisations can achieve their objectives in the face of opposition. The opposition was found to be in response to interpretations of the posters based on the Holy Koran and Islamic practices, and a perceived intrusion into the professional territory of religious organisations, which affected the socio-economic interests of these organisations' representatives. It was therefore concluded that development organisations should pre-empt such opposition by spelling out their objectives to potential critics, and formulating programmes that do not provide scope for opponents to undermine their development activities. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Advocacy.
  • Spirituality is central to many of the daily decisions people in the 'South' make about their own and their community' s development, including that of whether or not to participate in risky but potentially beneficial social action. Despite its importance, development literature and development practices have systematically avoided the topic of spirituality. This avoidance results in inferior research and less effective programmes and ultimately fails to provide participants with opportunities to reflect on how their development and their spirituality will and should shape each other. The author offers some possible explanations for the avoidance and suggests ways in which to address spirituality in development theory and practice. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Culture.
  • In 1997, 30 women and men of different ages and from a range of cultural, religious, social, and geographical backgrounds, participated in an Encounter to seek a deeper understanding of the implications of 'femininity' and 'masculinity' in their lives and their societies. Each had responded in writing to questions like: how did I become aware of 'womanhood' and 'manhood' ? how are these differences expressed in my society? how far do I see social changes that are taking place as a result of 50 years of women' s movements? The process provided a challenge to move beyond the feminine/masculine divide towards fundamental issues of human dignity. This article draws on the written and oral contributions of the participants.
  • ABANTU for Development embarked on a regional programme to strengthen civil society capacities for engaging with policy from a gender perspective. An early activity involved an in-depth study of NGO capacities for policy engagement which ABANTU carried out in Nigeria during the recent period of military rule. In keeping with ABANTU's commitments as a regional human resources network dedicated to promoting development and gender equality from an African perspective, the local research team used a participatory action methodology to gather and interpret the findings in a way that privileged local NGO perspectives and understandings of gender and policy. The exercise generated hitherto unavailable information and experiential case study material, and simultaneously identified and involved a core group of NGOs in the development and planning of the subsequent training programme. More importantly, it also furnished the regional training network with an understanding of indigenous cultures and local gender politics. These were found to be infused with diverse local cultural dynamics, as well as with the contradictory legacies of the military's state-driven programmes for women, both of which constrain the extent of gender activism, especially when this is monitored through instances of direct policy engagement. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development NGOs and Civil Society.
  • The author describes the movement of the Tobas indians from their nomadic, rural lifestyle in northern Argentina (due mainly to industrial deforestation) to Rosario, a city of around 1 million inhabitants. He highlights the difficulties the Tobas face in Rosario; their economic destitution, and the lack of education in their own language. He advocates economic support for co-operatives and training in traditional crafts, and changing the education system - or failing that, supporting non-formal workshops - to reflect the Tobas' own cultural values.
  • The author analyses the concept of social exclusion, arguing that the term has become a label for `another `vulnerable group' with no differentiation, complexity, agency, or resistance'. She instead suggests that we look to broader ideas of justice, participation, and citizenship, to bring the `social' aspect back into the concept, which should be more synonymous with discrimination and marginalisation than with the failure of formal (education, employment, legal etc.) systems.
  • Women's groups in Papua New Guinea, often under the influence of colonial and church governance in the past, still have an ambiguous function which serves to isolate women and `women's issues' rather than spread gender sensitivity. The author concludes that the existence of these forums for women actually encourages the continued marginalisation of women from governing and decision-making structures, since women's groups `tend to operate from separate and unequal spheres of influence'.
  • The author provides a matrix examining gender-based financial, economic, social/cultural, and political/legal obstacles to women benefiting from microfinance and enterprise. She goes on to discuss how impact assessment work can be approached in the light of this matrix, highlighting the importance of establishing the nature of gender relations prior to projects, considering the potential outcomes that assessors should look out for, and carrying out gender-sensitive assessment.