The aid chain : coercion and commitment in development NGOs / Tina Wallace with Lisa Bornstein and Jennifer Chapman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wallace, Tina.

Contributor:

Bornstein, Lisa.

Chapman, Jennifer, 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Non-governmental organizations.

International cooperation.

Organizational change--Uganda--Case studies.

Organizational change.

Organizational change--South Africa--Case studies.

South Africa.

Uganda.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 199 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Warwickshire, UK : ITDG ; South Africa : University of KwaZulu-Natal Press ; Kampala, Uganda : Fountain Publishers, 2007.

Summary:

Donors and UK NGOs have adopted increasingly similar approaches over the past ten years, yet little time or thought has apparently been spent on examining whether these enabled the kind of changes that they were aiming for. The Aid Chain presents three country case studies looking at the chain of aid money from donors in the UK, to UK NGOs, to partners and field offices in Uganda and South Africa, and how they use and account for their funding. The book examines how far local strategies and projects are influenced by changing donor policies and other external forces, and how far by internal imperatives.

Each case study covers, donors and NGOs that are linked directly together through the funding chain, and a selection of other agencies, enabling a wider exploration of the issues. The book presents a range of findings of direct relevance and importance within each country context, and others that are more widely applicable.

Contents:

Coercion and compliance 4

Commitment 5

The research 7

The research methodology 9

2 The changing context for the work of development NGOs 19

The new funding mechanisms 21

The challenges of the new aid architecture 23

Contrasting definitions of development: what is the project? 26

3 The management of development 31

NGOs and the packaging of aid 32

The language and practice of rational management 34

Given the flaws, why has this approach dominated? 37

Those with power can promote the approaches they prefer 38

The hold of logframe analysis 39

Participatory planning and human development 40

The conceptual basis of participatory planning within donor frameworks 43

Other approaches to planning and implementation exist 44

The missing elements 45

4 The major UK donors and the flow of aid through the NGO sector 49

The donor context: funding flows 2000-3 51

DFID 52

Who can access this funding? 53

Changing grant models and conditions 56

Local funding 60

Contracts 60

The European Union 61

Medium-sized UK donors: Community Fund and Comic Relief 63

Small UK donors: trusts and foundations 68

UK NGOs as aid recipients 69

5 The NGO context in Uganda and South Africa 73

Uganda 73

NGOs in Uganda 76

South Africa 82

Development challenges in South Africa 84

6 Normative conditions: rational management of the aid chain 91

Project cycle management tools in the UK 92

Some different trends 94

Project cycle management tools in South Africa 95

Project cycle management in Uganda 100

Comparative perspectives on the benefits of the logframe 104

7 The ties that bind 109

Questioning the status quo as heresy 109

The ties that bind 111

Donor contracts deepening the trends 120

Loosening the ties 122

8 Relationships: partnerships, power and participation 129

The experiences of a faith-based organization in relating to European donors 130

Donors encouraging alliances and networking: relationships in practice 133

Trying to build different, sustainable relations with local NGOs 140

9 Chains of influence in South Africa 147

South African NGOs as partners: from negotiation to vulnerability 148

NGOs and gender mainstreaming: power, tools and meanings 150

Beyond negotiation: training and organizational development NGOs in South Africa 155

10 Listening to the past and building a new future 161

Other research supports our findings, which are relevant globally 161

The key findings concerning the policies and procedures of the aid chain 161

The questions raised by these findings 168

But isn't this all very depressing? 173

Alternative ways of working 176

Organisations interviewed for the mid-level survey of NGO-donor relations in South Africa and Uganda (see Figure 1.2 in chapter 1) that were not in the original aid chain sample established in the UK (see Table 1.1 in chapter 1) 179.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [181]-189) and index.

ISBN:

1853396265

9781853396267

OCLC:

71724234