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The Multi-Image Development NGO: An Agent of the New Imperialism?

Author(s): Fletcher Tembo
Source: Development in Practice, Vol. 13, No. 5 (Nov., 2003), pp. 527-533
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Oxfam GB
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4029939
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 The multi-image development NGO

[In summary, then]. . . grassroots orga- Dimensiones culturales, politicas y socio-

nisations also need the technical ser-
vices of anthropologists and social
analysts, to be able to provide us with Ediciones.
the
diagnoses and field research that would
allow us to better understand the cus-
tomary laws of the multilateral institu-
tions and [their government partners].
... We need some of them on our side.
economicas de las relaciones, Me'xico-Esta-
dos Unidos, Mexico City: UNAM/La Jomada
World Bank (2000) World Development
Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty, New
York: OUP and World Bank.
The author

Jonathan Fox is Professor and Chair of

Acknowledgements
the Latin American and Latino Studies
This essay was first presented at the Presi- Department at the University of
dential Session '"Spank the Bank" and "The California, Santa Cruz. Contact details:
Battle of Seattle": Does Anthropology Have a < Jafox@cats.ucsc.edu >.
Social Responsibility in a Global World?' at
the 99th Annual Meeting of the American
Anthropological Association, San Francisco,
17 November 2000. The essay draws on long-
term partnerships, including a process of
independent civil society monitoring of
The multi-image development
World Bank projects in rural Mexico led by NGO: an agent of the new
Manuel Fernandez de Villegas, Fernando imperialism?
Melo, and the team at Trasparencia
(www.trasparencia.org.mx); a research col-
lection co-edited with L. David Brown of the Fletcher Tembo
Institute for Development Research and
Harvard University's Hauser Center (The
Struggle forAccountability: The World Bank,
Introduction
NGOs and Grassroots Movements, Cam-
bridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998); conversations This Viewpoint explores how development
with the Brazilian Network on Multilateral NGOs that seek to empower rural commu-
Financial Institutions (www.rbrasil.org.br); nities may, in the context of the reform of the
as well as a co-edited book with Kay Treakle, state that is taking place in many developing
Director of the Bank Information Center countries, get caught up in pursuing the
(www.bicusa.org), and Dana Clark (Demand- agenda of the state and market rather than
ing Accountability: Lessons from the Worldthat of the poor. On the face of it, the
Bank's Inspection Panel, Lanham, MD: Row- reformed state and development NGOs both
man and Littlefield, 2003). advocate the agenda of empowering the poor
and avoiding the negative effects of market
liberalisation on people's social values.
References
However, as Mohan and Stokke (2000)
Farah, Douglas and David Ottaway (2000) observe, the discourses of participation and
'World Bank Reassesses Chad Pipeline Deal', empowerment have different ideological
Washington Post 5 December:A38. roots. On one hand is the 'revised neo-liberal
Fox, Jonathan (2000) 'Los Flujos y reFlujos position', whose top-down promotion of
de prestamos sociales y ambientales del participation and empowerment barely chal-
Banco Mundial en Mexico', in A. A. Bejar et lenges the significance of power in shaping
al. (eds.) Las nuevasfronteras del siglo XXI: social relations. The underlying objective is

Development in Practice, Volume 13, Number 5, November 2003 527

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Fletcher Tembo

to create opportunities for market penetra-
tion. On the other hand is a post-Marxist
impetus, which seeks radically to challenge
the structural relationships between the state
and the market. While the identification of
development NGOs with civil society and
the poor suggests that they are influenced by
the latter impetus, they are in fact operating
in the shadows of the neo-liberal agenda.
This is especially so today because much of
their funding comes from public sources,
which now favour the market and foreign
direct investment. In light of the decrease in
development aid and the changing relations
between the state and the market, con-
tributors to a special issue of the journal
Third World Quarterly in 2000 (Volume 21,
Number 4) see development NGOs as occu-
pying a fourth position.
In this fourth position, development
NGOs behave like the state in attending to
public projects, like the market in generating
finances, and like civil society in promoting
and protecting civic values and participatory
development. Their new roles would include
negotiation, validation of actors' compliance
with rights, innovation, and capacity build-
ing (Fowler 2000). From my own empirical
examination of NGO development work in
selected rural communities in Malawi (high-
lighted below), I contend that behaviour in
this fourth position could imply NGOs
It is therefore possible that different sets of
adopting multi-image characteristics in their
actors have divergent images of the dimen-
actions with the state, the market, and those
they are assisting. This would set the scene
for political behaviour at these interface
areas that would make it hard to achieve the
roles envisaged. When the interface between
development NGOs and rural communities is
based on state or market agendas, rather than
those of the people themselves, they are
likely to facilitate new forms of imperialism. tained over time. Even if it were to be
This paper starts from a conceptual frame-
work that brings together the ideas of image-
conflicts, politics, and the new imperialism
before discussing the politics of negotiation
at the interfaces mediating this imperialism. I
then suggest that development NGOs require
political leverage at the various areas of
interface if they are genuinely to perform the
negotiation, validation, and capacity-build-
ing roles outlined by Fowler (2000), and
assist the poor in a changing world.
Image-conflicts, politics, and the
new imperialism
'Images' are structures of meaning through
which social actors interpret the actions, or
inactions, of others, and hence decide what
form the relationship with them should take
(Hamlyn 1996; de Haan and Long 1997). As
development NGOs interact with the state,
the market, or other civil society actors, they
operate from these structures of meaning and
attempt to bring their interlocutors into their
own desired courses of action (Long and
Villareal 1994). The other actors attempt to
do the same in accordance with their own
images of reality. Political behaviour is an
inevitable part of these interactions. In other
words, the interactions that development
NGOs have with various actors are shaped
by the meanings that each interlocutor gives
to the concept of development. In this
context, subscribing to the empowerment of
people or to strengthening their 'capital'
terms that are prevalent in current develop-
ment policy discourse-does not reveal
whose meanings are being used and pursued.
sions of change being referred to, even when
they call for the same concrete actions on the
part of individuals or groups.
In making this argument, I do not assume
that a shared meaning in the agendas of the
different stakeholders involved in develop-
ment projects could be achieved and sus-
achieved momentarily, through negotiation
between the state and market actors, and
through participatory appraisal and learning
in rural communities, the likelihood of
dissent remains high (Long 2000). My
concern is with the extent to which these
differences constitute opportunities for some

528 Development in Practice, Volume 13, Number 5, November 2003

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 The multi-image development NGO

actors to manipulate the agendas of others, and what they mean for different people in
where there is an assumption of shared these communities.
meanings, in order to enrol them into their In the following sections I discuss how an
own projects. These differences in the image-based approach to understanding
images that actors form of each other's role these realities provides a conceptual tool for
and purpose constitute image-conflicts. This exploring political questions involved in the
is because each of the actors struggles for work of development NGOs in a neo-liberal
meaning, expression, and relevance of their context, and I use case studies conducted in
actions on the basis of their own images. Malawi between 1998 and 2000 as
Such a context provides opportunities to illustration.
privileged actors (i.e. those with more
power) to express themselves in a way that
will gain the support of the others (Goffman
Questioning development NGOs
1969). This is where development NGOs are
and 'priorities'
prone to co-opt the poor into the new market-
led imperialism unless they understand these The main ideological thrust of empowerment,
image-conflicts and the ways in which they participation, and capacity building is in the
are managed in their negotiations with the way local people's priorities are favoured
state, the market, and the rural people. over those of outsiders. The concept of partic-
This neo-imperialism goes beyond ipatory governance implies that the poor
openly manifested economic and political themselves are actively involved in poverty-
forms of hegemony to the sociological and alleviation efforts (Schneider 1999). Devel-
cultural forms of exploitation of the power- opment NGOs have always considered this as
less by the powerful, both in the local and an area in which they enjoy a comparative
the wider context (Tucker 1999). For exam- advantage, owing to their value-based and
ple, some researchers have revealed certain voluntary orientations. It was not surprising,
structures and processes involving NGOs therefore, that in my 15 months of actor-ori-
whereby local knowledge and priorities are ented research on the work of development
subordinated to Northern meanings NGOs in Malawi, it was almost a given that
(Mawdsley et al. 2001). They see develop- they focused on people's priorities. As one
ment NGOs acting as 'transmission belts' field officer put it, 'We do not impose projects
for foreign ideologies, which results in on people; we are community-driven.' How-
these NGOs controlling the definition and ever, as I moved from one village to another, I
practice of development. With development was struck by how similar the assistance
defined within the neo-liberal framework, offered by different development NGOs was.
there is a real possibility that such NGOs In every village, people pointed to wells,
will also transmit a pro-market development school buildings, clinic shelters, loans, cas-
discourse. From a more theoretical per- sava and sweet potato cuttings, and so on. I
spective, other researchers have argued that paused to ask myself why there was such uni-
neo-liberal approaches fail to transcend the formity and wondered if all those villages
social norms and practices that perpetuate shared common problems. From my interac-
patterns of poverty and inequality (Kabeer tion with the people and NGO fieldworkers, I
and Humphrey 1991). In essence, they leamt that this was not the case; people's live-
lihoods were of a diverse nature. This uni-
provide for market penetration without ena-
bling the poor to benefit from market formity in actual projects was a result of the
successes. What has not been conceptu- top-down nature of 'participation', in the
operational rather than the ideological sense,
alised, however, is how these external for-
ces and ideologies are mediated from the which relates to the 'revised neo-liberal' prac-
global frameworks to the local communities tice explained above. In this case, NGO field-

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Fletcher Tembo

workers emphasised project activities that The NGOs have a specially important
they believed were empowering and likely to role of complementing government
result in certain forms of well-being, accord- efforts in all sectors of poverty allevia-
ing to the images that they formed of these tion, particularly in the implementation
people's livelihoods. My interest, then, was in of micro-projects focusing on domestic
finding out how such a compromise of prior- demand creation, productivity improve-
ities could occur in NGO development ments and marketing and community
projects. mobilisation. (GOM 1995:40)
From my probes into the images that
Within (or through) development NGOs,
NGO fieldworkers formed of their initial
therefore, was a framework of 'poverty'
interactions with the people (to develop
within which the 'poverty' of the people was
project proposals), the common responses
selectively understood, justified with special
of 'we cannot do all things' and 'we need
concepts, and then situated in projects.
to prepare good projects' emerged. In
Informed by their interface with donors and
essence, the meanings that these images
the state, development NGOs produced a
represented framed the way in which par-
snapshot picture of some aspects of people's
ticipatory processes were conducted. In
livelihoods, in the form of deprivation and
other words, the 'end' of people's partici-
'lack of-s'. In a way, NGO fieldworkers
pation had to be information which the
delineated the quality of life and 'commodi-
NGO could use in an intervention and pro-
fied' people's assets in order to accord them
duce a 'good' project. For instance, if the
a market value and the image of material
NGO had a special focus on health, it was
wealth. This was a market approach to
information related to health that was
interventions, in which any socio-cultural
sought, and not, for instance, information
aspect of people's livelihoods that did not
relating to conflicts between two villages.
match with the image was treated as a
Through such processes people were put
problem or an obstacle. One NGO project
into categories representing various forms
proposal illustrates this point:
of deprivation and/or lack of assets. The
research found that the images represented Over 60 per cent of households keep
in these concepts were themselves a prod- livestock, especially cattle. This, how-
uct of the development NGOs' missions ever is a prestigious symbol of wealth.
and their interface with the state. Develop- They are also kept for dowry, security
ment NGOs' missions were evident in con- and funeral rites. With these social
cepts such as 'our organisation does not reasons, livestock are not managed with
fund these activities' and 'donors do not prudence as businesses.
fund projects without a gender component',
the latter being a representation of donor
frameworks of development. The state was
Negotiation: the politics of
involved because information from partici-
managing interface
patory appraisals and surveys was checked
image-conflicts
against statistics informing the govern-
ment's priorities concerning poverty in One of the challenges of the new market-led
Malawi. This was necessary in order to imperialism is that through the use of
'complement government efforts' in pov- 'emancipatory' concepts such as participa-
erty alleviation. This complementation, tion and empowerment, the image-conflicts
essentially meaning doing more of the that underlie practice are very well dis-
same for wider coverage, was in line with guised. In this context, power is the ability to
the state's understanding of the role of define reality and effectively negotiate and
NGOs: enrol others into that vision (Leitner et al.

530 Development in Practice, Volume 13, Number 5, November 2003

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 The multi-image development NGO

1996). As I conducted these NGO case some of the community-wide projects, many
studies, for instance, I initially assumed thatspent most of their time in projects
women
people were not participating actively rather than working on their crop fields,
because their priorities were compromised. which negatively affected their food security.
Interestingly, however, when people were This meant that although these projects
asked about their livelihoods in relation to involved many people, the way they
NGO assistance, they selected those aspects included the poor was problematic (Wood
of their livelihoods that reflected what was 2001). Interestingly, it was the development
expected in projects. However, several con- NGOs with projects based on the quick
cepts emerged from the people's explana- disbursement of funds and the coverage of
tions of their engagement with projects that large populations that were cited as 'good
showed the political nature of their negotia- perforners' in government development
tions with development NGOs and among meetings. They were said to be effectively
themselves. These included, for instance, contributing to poverty alleviation, through
'As They Wish', implying openness to the construction of many school buildings,
participate in any NGO project, 'Construc- for instance. The fact that it was children
tion NGO', implying that the NGO is known from better-off families in these commu-
for supporting a particular type of project nities who used these facilities, while the
and not others, and 'For the Community', poorer were impeded by hunger, disease, and
meaning that the NGO will assist projects lack of money to buy supplies, seemed
that benefit the whole community. These irrelevant. In this case, school construction
images that the people formed of the went very well with government statistics on
involvement of development NGOs in their enrolment and number of school buildings
livelihoods shaped the nature of their nego- without saying anything about the quality of
tiations with NGO fieldworkers and among education or about the actual beneficiaries.
themselves. These negotiations were asso- In complementing the state agenda, there-
ciated with different forms of political fore, development NGOs were absorbed into
behaviour. In a way, this shows that the the market influence over service provision,
market-led forms of imperialism are not a with the power to 'produce shortages for a
result of development NGOs acting as 'trans- greater number of people as the condition of
mission belts' (Mawdsley et al.). Instead, access for a small minority' (Berthoud
they are mediated and transformed from 1992:81).
global to local through the contestation of the This observation corroborates evidence
different actors' images of reality and their from the research showing that such negotia-
associated conceptual representations (Long tion worked because there were actors within
2000). these communities that benefited from using
In the case studies, the people's accounts certain representations in their negotiation.
showed that NGO and government field- These were actors with a gate-keeping role
workers encouraged people to engage with within the community, such as traditional
development NGOs in a certain way, in order leaders, party leaders, committee members,
to access assistance of the form explained or men who had good connections with party
above. For instance, they would remark officials. These individuals had the privilege
'This is your only chance' or 'We want to of supporting certain forms of assistance for
assist the poor.' While such communication their own benefit, and hence shaped the
ensured quicker preparation of projects, image of community progress through one
which could mean the NGO satisfying its kind of assistance rather than another. For
donors' demands, they included enlisting the example, my analysis of the information
poor in programmes that exacerbated their generated from the case study communities
poverty. For instance, as they got involved inshowed that the concept of a 'Construction

Development in Practice, Volume 13, Number 5, November 2003 531

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Fletcher Tembo

NGO' was used mostly among traditional act in compliance with the rights of the poor.
leaders, while most women used the 'As they This then becomes the development NGOs'
Wish' concept. Further probing showed that form of political leverage, creating room for
women were afraid of the leaders, who were manoeuvre for the meanings and values of
mostly men. In the multi-party era of the poor in relation to actors located both
Malawi, community-wide projects provided externally and within societies. Such a
party leaders in charge of them with obvious process would facilitate the empowerment of
advantages over leaders of other parties who the poor in the context of the market-led
did not have projects in the community. imperialist tendencies that negatively affect
Some men supported women-only loans the value-based culture of development
provided by development NGOs on the NGOs.
understanding that this ensured an improve-
ment in household well-being. They usually,
however, ended up using the loan for their Acknowledgement
own purposes, because of their patriarchal
This article is based on a paper presented at
power within the household. This tendency
an international conference on 'The Global
also shows how the view of empowerment
Constitution of Failed States: Consequences
and participation inspired by a market-led
of the New Imperialism?' held at the Uni-
perspective fails to challenge the local power
versity of Sussex in April 2001. The views
structures. In such cases, people who nego-
expressed are based on research work con-
tiate image-conflicts benefit while those who
ducted during the author's PhD studies and,
are enrolled in the images of others lose out.
therefore, do not reflect those of World
Under these circumstances, negotiations and
Vision UK. The author sincerely thanks Ian
participatory practices are clad with 'front
Wallace, at the University of Reading, for his
performance', meant to evoke those respon-
editorial assistance.
ses that powerful actors are interested in
obtaining (Goffman 1969).

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The risk approach to strategic management
The author
Fletcher Tembo is a Donor Strategy Adviser
to World Vision UK. Before that, he worked
for seven years in rural communities in
Malawi as a projects coordinator. He holds a
PhD in Rural Social Development from the
University of Reading. Contact details:
World Vision UK, 599 Avebury Boulevard,
Milton Keynes MK9 3PG, UK.
< fletchertembo@yahoo.co.uk >.
The risk approach to strategic
management in development
NGOs
Ricardo Wilson-Grau
Strategic thinking through risk
management
In recent years, NGOs committed to social
change have invested heavily in improving
their professional competence. One innova-
tion has been the use of strategic planning.
Typically, once every three to five years,
NGOs agree and implement a multi-annual
process sharply focused on positioning the
organisation to achieve its mission and long-
term goals. Increasingly, however, develop-
ment NGOs are experiencing rapid, accel-
erating change. Not only do strategic
decisions have to be made outside a multi-
year cycle, but by the time managers know
whether or not a decision has been imple-
mented, they have taken new ones. Thus,
staff 'ownership' or 'empowerment' is vital.
In fact, delegation of responsibility and
authority for achieving an organisation's
fundamental goals has never been more
important.
Thus, in order to remain effective, not
only in the present but especially in the