Can NGOs make a difference? : the challenge of development alternatives / edited by Anthony J. Bebbington, Samuel Hickey and Diana C. Mitlin.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bebbington, Anthony, 1962-

Hickey, Samuel, 1972-

Mitlin, Diana.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Non-governmental organizations--Evaluation.

Non-governmental organizations.

Physical Description:

x, 358 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Zed ; New York : Distributed in the USA exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, [2008]

Summary:

Can non-governmental organizations contribute to more socially just, alternative forms of development? Or are they destined to work at the margins of dominant development models determined by others? Addressing these questions, this book brings together leading international voices from academia, NGOs and social movements. It provides a comprehensive update to the NGO literature and a range of critical new directions to thinking and acting around the challenge of development alternatives. The book's originality comes from the wide range of new case-study material it presents, the conceptual approaches it offers for thinking about development alternatives, and the practical suggestions for NGOs.

At the heart of this book is the argument that NGOs can and must re-engage with the project of seeking alternative development futures for the world's poorest and more marginal. This will require clearer analysis of the contemporary problems of uneven development, and a clear understanding of the types of alliances NGOs need to construct with other actors in civil society if they are to mount a credible challenge to disempowering processes of economic, social and political development.

Contents:

Part I Critical Challenges

1 Introduction: Can NGOs Make a Difference? The Challenge of Development Alternatives / Anthony J. Bebbington, Samuel Hickey, Diana C. Mitlin 3

2 Have NGOs 'Made a Difference?' From Manchester to Birmingham with an Elephant in the Room / Michael Edwards 38

Part II NGO Alternatives under Pressure

3 Challenges to Participation, Citizenship and Democracy: Perverse Confluence and Displacement of Meanings / Evelina Dagnino 55

4 Learning from Latin America: Recent Trends in European NGO Policymaking / Kees Biekart 71

5 Whatever Happened to Reciprocity? Implications of Donor Emphasis on 'Voice' and 'Impact' as Rationales for Working with NGOs in Development / Alan Thomas 90

6 Development and the New Security Agenda: W(h)ither(ing) NGO Alternatives? / Alan Fowler 111

Part III Pursuing Alternatives: NGO Strategies in Practice

7 How Civil Society Organizations Use Evidence to Influence Policy Processes / Amy Pollard, Julius Court 133

8 Civil Society Participation as the Focus of Northern NGO Support: The Case of Dutch Co-financing Agencies / Irene Guijt 153

9 Producing Knowledge, Generating Alternatives? Challenges to Research-oriented NGOs in Central America and Mexico / Cynthia Bazan, Nelson Cuellar, Ileana Gomez, Cati Illsley, Adrian Lopez, Iliana Monterroso, Joaline Pardo, Jose Luis Rocha, Pedro Torres, Anthony J. Bebbington 175

10 Anxieties and Affirmations: NGO-Donor Partnerships for Social Transformation / Mary Racelis 196

Part IV Being Alternative

11 Reinventing International NGOs: A View from the Dutch Co-financing System / Harry Derksen, Pim Verhallen 221

12 Transforming or Conforming? NGOs Training Health Promoters and the Dominant Paradigm of the Development Industry in Bolivia / Katie S. Bristow 240

13 Political Entrepreneurs or Development Agents: An NGO's Tale of Resistance and Acquiescence in Madhya Pradesh, India / Vasudha Chhotray 261

14 Is This Really the End of the Road for Gender Mainstreaming? Getting to Grips with Gender and Institutional Change / Nicholas Pialek 279

15 The Ambivalent Cosmopolitanism of International NGOs / Helen Yanacopulos, Matt Baillie Smith 298

16 Development as Reform and Counter-reform: Paths Travelled by Slum/Shack Dwellers International / Joel Bolnick 316

Part V Taking Stock and Thinking Forward

17 Reflections on NGOs and Development: The Elephant, the Dinosaur, Several Tigers but No Owl / David Hulme 337.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1842778927

9781842778920

1842778935

9781842778937

OCLC:

170039373