Harnessing the plurality of actor frames in social-ecological systems: ecological sanitation in Bolivia

This article uses a case study on ecological sanitation as a basis for lessons on identifying and harnessing the plurality of actor frames in social-ecological systems, thereby moving beyond the advocacy positions often taken by implementing NGOs. The study aimed to explore how perspectives between the implementing agencies of an ecological sanitation project in rural Bolivia and the owners of a urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT) relate to each other, and how this influenced the outcome of the project. The article provides key elements and an example methodology for social learning in the context of multiple interpretative frames in development projects.     

日本对蒙古援助分析

以苏联解体和蒙古向市场经济转型为契机,1991年日本正式开始了对蒙古的官方发展援助(ODA),并以相对较小的成本,长期成为国际社会对蒙援助的最大援助国。根据蒙古经济发展的不同阶段和国家战略需求,日本对蒙援助经历了紧急救济型援助、有计划的恢复型援助和有计划的发展型援助三个阶段。ODA成为20世纪90年代以来维系和加深日蒙关系的关键,对促进蒙古经济社会的恢复与发展,推动蒙古市场经济转型等发挥了重要作用。通过对蒙援助,日本提高并巩固了自身在东北亚地区的战略地位,提升了自己的国际影响力和国际形象,为其获得广阔的市场和丰富的资源提供了便利条件。     

The learning organisation as a model for rural development

This article presents evidence from Uganda's National Agricultural Advisory Service to argue that the concept of ‘the learning organisation’ is a valuable complement to participatory development which may facilitate a shift towards more democratic development institutions in which target beneficiaries have a stronger voice in planning and managing development. The concept of ‘the learning organisation’ as developed within the literature of management studies cannot, however, be readily translated into anything as specific as a clear set of practical guidelines. Rather it acts as a seed that grows to take on characteristics specific to the rural development context.     

Money,power, and donor–NGO partnerships

The term ‘partnership’ can be considered something of a Trojan Horse, disguising the reality of the complex relationships in imbalances of power and inequality, often expressed through the control of one ‘partner’ over the other. With particular reference to the experience of a small, UK-based NGO working in Uganda (Hives Save Lives – Africa), this article highlights how power is manifest within donor–NGO partnerships through the control and flow of money; and illustrates that NGOs pursuing funding from donors face many challenges that reinforce this imbalance of power.     

What has the World Development Report 2008 to say about Indian agriculture?

It has been two years since the World Bank launched its World Development Report (WDR) 2008. The Report made a number of observations, based on research papers and reports contributed by various economists and scholars. This review essay assesses the prospects and problems associated with Indian agriculture in the light of the Report.     

略论澳大利亚在《科伦坡计划》中对东南亚的援助

二战后,澳大利亚积极参加地区性建设,参与实施《科伦坡计划》,加大对东南亚国家的经济、文化、军事援助等。《科伦坡计划》是亚洲第一个国际性的政府间相互援助计划,在澳大利亚对外援助中占主导作用。《科伦坡计划》性质具有多重性,不仅仅出于国家利益考虑,而且还涉及人道主义等,在援助方式上形式多样,从而对东南亚国家产生了客观性的多种影响。     

Privatisation of urban water and sewerage services in Turkey: some trends

This article describes the experience of privatised urban water-supply and sewerage services in Turkey, focusing on the cases of three cities that have opted for such privatisation. The article opens with an examination of the management of urban water and sewerage services in Turkey and explores the development of water services and water policies in local government institutions. The second section introduces case studies of cities that have transferred the management, operation, and maintenance of urban water services to private operators.     

Facilitators of development or Kapos for capital: the primrose path to GATS

This article arose from work undertaken on behalf of a UK-based NGO developing a policy response to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It looks at GATS as a key to locating development NGOs (NGDOs) within the broader field of development aims and practices, examining the long-term implications of GATS with respect to the idea of a ‘fourth position’ for such NGOs. It is argued that this theoretical position fails to take into account changing imbalances of power between NGDOs and their Southern counterparts that began under structural adjustment, as a consequence of which many NGDOs now occupy a position from which effective mediation between civil society, the state, and the market would be difficult if not impossible. In addition, GATS represents a step-change along the evolutionary path towards a market-oriented ideology whose verticalist worldview represents a profound contradiction to the avowedly progressive aims of most NGDOs.     

Are current aid strategies marginalising the already marginalised? Cases from Tanzania

Engaging with and assisting marginalised communities remains a major challenge for governments of developing countries, as many national development strategies tend in practice to further marginalise chronically poor communities. Development aid strategies, including poverty-reduction initiatives, have focused primarily on economic development. As a result they have contributed to the erosion of the asset base of these communities, and in particular their access to natural resources. While questioning the impact of aid arrangements on the poorest and most vulnerable communities in society, this article recognises that current aid arrangements, such as national poverty-reduction strategies, have created an environment in which chronic poverty can be addressed by national governments and other stakeholders. The authors emphasise the need for greater sensitivity in the processes of planning and managing national development strategies that seek to reduce poverty, as well as a commitment to institutional arrangements that include marginalised groups in the country's political economy.     

Structures,values, and interaction in field-level partnerships: the case of UNHCR and NGOs

This article discusses the process of transforming partnership from a conceptual framework into a practical, operational framework for field-level interaction among humanitarian organisations. The authors approach this transformation from the perspective of the core values of the partnership concept and the ability of field workers to behave in ways that are consistent with these core values, illustrated by an empirical study of the relationships between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and NGOs in a refugee-assistance programme in northern Uganda. The authors connect inter-organisational structures with the role of people charged with making partnership work, concluding that the structures and context in which individuals operate make it impossible for them to ‘act out’ the core values of partnership. By identifying the major challenges to creating field-level, operational partnerships, the authors offer lessons for current and future partnership-building initiatives, such as the Global Humanitarian Platform.