Tuesday, 8 October 2019
Lecture 5- Tools and strategies for alternative development
International development studies
Common concerns alternative development strategies (Brohman, 1996)
A move towards redistribute mechanisms targeting the poor
Focus on local, small-scale projects (rural focus)
Emphasis on basic needs and human resource development
Refocusing from growth-oriented towards human-oriented frameworks
Concern for local participation in design and implementation of projects (rise of civil
society)
Emphasis on self-reliance, promoting sustainability
>Same end goal but different means to reach it?
Difficulty alternative development (Nederveen Pieterse, p. 351)
Alternative development travels under many aliases:appropriate development,
participatory development, people-centred development, human-scale
development, people’s self development, autonomous development, holistic
development, development from below
Many concepts:participation, grassroots movements, NGOs, empowerment,
conscientization, liberation theology, democratization, citizenship, human rights,
development ethics, eco-feminism, cultural diversity
>Loaded with aspirations beyond its scope?
Alternative Development as everyone’s way out?
“The alternative discourse was a way of being progressive without being overly
radical and without endorsing a clear ideology; it could be embraced by
progressives and conservatives who both had axes to grind with the role of states. It
was a low-risk way of being progressive and its structural unclarity ensured broad
endorsement. It was everyone's way out except that of the last bureaucrat
(Nederveen Pieterse, p. 348).”
1
, Tuesday, 8 October 2019
“As long as there is development there will be room for critical development and for
ground-up, street views of development -but no longer necessarily in opposition to
mainstream development, no longer necessarily as local, micro approaches to and
apart from macro policies (p.370).”
Participatory development
Catchphrase under alternative development
Against: euro-centrism, top-downism
“The central focus of development is not necessarily to boost production of material
goods; instead, it should be to foster and enhance people's capability to have a role
in their society's development.”
Issues in participatory development:
• From radical alternative approach in 1970s now adopted in mainstream
development (e.g. PRSPs, SDGs)
• Difficult translation from theory to practice (‘requires a lot of negotiation’,
‘assumes equal knowledge’)
• Costly, time-consuming, methodology
• Sometimes used as ‘rubber stamp’ to prove participatory credentials
The rise of civil society (see book p. 223-224)
Civil society: an intermediate realm between the state and family, populated by
organized groups that have some autonomy in relation to the state and are formed
voluntarily by members of society to advance their interests, values, or identities.(p.
223)
Agent for participatory, empowering, form development (p.222)
Issue oriented (NGOs) rather than class-based (social movements)
Policy and institutional reform rather than confrontational approach
Context for emergence 1980s (p224): globalization, democratization, privatization,
decentralization, economic liberalization, deregulation
2
Lecture 5- Tools and strategies for alternative development
International development studies
Common concerns alternative development strategies (Brohman, 1996)
A move towards redistribute mechanisms targeting the poor
Focus on local, small-scale projects (rural focus)
Emphasis on basic needs and human resource development
Refocusing from growth-oriented towards human-oriented frameworks
Concern for local participation in design and implementation of projects (rise of civil
society)
Emphasis on self-reliance, promoting sustainability
>Same end goal but different means to reach it?
Difficulty alternative development (Nederveen Pieterse, p. 351)
Alternative development travels under many aliases:appropriate development,
participatory development, people-centred development, human-scale
development, people’s self development, autonomous development, holistic
development, development from below
Many concepts:participation, grassroots movements, NGOs, empowerment,
conscientization, liberation theology, democratization, citizenship, human rights,
development ethics, eco-feminism, cultural diversity
>Loaded with aspirations beyond its scope?
Alternative Development as everyone’s way out?
“The alternative discourse was a way of being progressive without being overly
radical and without endorsing a clear ideology; it could be embraced by
progressives and conservatives who both had axes to grind with the role of states. It
was a low-risk way of being progressive and its structural unclarity ensured broad
endorsement. It was everyone's way out except that of the last bureaucrat
(Nederveen Pieterse, p. 348).”
1
, Tuesday, 8 October 2019
“As long as there is development there will be room for critical development and for
ground-up, street views of development -but no longer necessarily in opposition to
mainstream development, no longer necessarily as local, micro approaches to and
apart from macro policies (p.370).”
Participatory development
Catchphrase under alternative development
Against: euro-centrism, top-downism
“The central focus of development is not necessarily to boost production of material
goods; instead, it should be to foster and enhance people's capability to have a role
in their society's development.”
Issues in participatory development:
• From radical alternative approach in 1970s now adopted in mainstream
development (e.g. PRSPs, SDGs)
• Difficult translation from theory to practice (‘requires a lot of negotiation’,
‘assumes equal knowledge’)
• Costly, time-consuming, methodology
• Sometimes used as ‘rubber stamp’ to prove participatory credentials
The rise of civil society (see book p. 223-224)
Civil society: an intermediate realm between the state and family, populated by
organized groups that have some autonomy in relation to the state and are formed
voluntarily by members of society to advance their interests, values, or identities.(p.
223)
Agent for participatory, empowering, form development (p.222)
Issue oriented (NGOs) rather than class-based (social movements)
Policy and institutional reform rather than confrontational approach
Context for emergence 1980s (p224): globalization, democratization, privatization,
decentralization, economic liberalization, deregulation
2
