ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2005
In association with Development Policy and Practice
and the International Development Centre at the Open University
Milton Keynes, UK
7th-9th September 2005
Connecting people
and places: challenges and opportunities for development
NGOS IN DEVELOPMENT PARALLEL SESSIONS ABSTRACTS
There are two sessions:
A: September 7th, 14.00-15.30
B: September 7th, 16.00-17.30
Click on the abstract title to download the paper (not all abstracts
have papers yet)
SESSION A: INTERNATIONAL
MIGRANTS – PARTNERS OR COMPETITORS IN DEVELOPMENT?
The relationship between international migration and development has
been the subject of considerable research – particularly around
issues such as the ‘brain drain’, remittances and more recently
transnational relationships and return migration. There is a growing body
of research that suggests that international migration does have a positive
effect on development. At the same time the management and control of
migration, especially irregular migration, is a growing policy concern
for northern states.
International development NGOs have traditionally focused their attentions
on the south as the arena for their development interventions. Some have
become involved in work with migrants in the north as an expression of
social concern about their abuse and exploitation, but few have taken
migrants seriously as development actors. However, if migration is an
important strategy for development and can contribute to the reduction
of poverty in the south, there may be considerable potential for NGOs
to work with migrants and diaspora groups in order to meet their goals.
This session will aim to:
§ Explore these changing relationships between development NGOs,
migrant and diaspora populations;
§ Increase dialogue and potential collaboration between these different
development actors.
Migration has long been cast as something to be explained as a deviation
from the norm of a sedentary existence and the motivation behind much
migration research has been to find policy levers to control it. While
these have largely failed and international migration increases, there
is much debate about the impact of such movements on developing countries.
Earlier analyses tended only to weigh up the losses in the brain drain
against the gain from remittances. However, more recent studies have highlighted
the importance of the ongoing relationship between migrants and their
country of origin in determining the overall development impact of migration.
Migrants are now seen as a ‘development resource’ who can
make a major contribution to the home countries beyond sending cash.
If this is the case, and development NGOs are aiming to reduce poverty
in the ‘south’, it seems clear that international development
NGOs should consider engaging with migrants as development allies in Europe.
Some European NGOs have turned their attention the situation of migrants,
particularly asylum seekers and refugees, but largely on migrants as a
target of their support – to ensure they can enjoy their rights
and establish themselves in Europe. Few recognise migration as a potential
development strategy or migrants as potential development allies (or possibly
competitors), who have much to offer their home countries.
The paper concludes by suggesting three ways in which European development
NGOs could work with migrants as development partners. First, NGOs need
to recognise and build on the capacity of migrants as development actors.
Second, they should consider ways that they can oil the wheels of the
international migration system to make it run more smoothly. A third,
and more extreme, implication of acknowledging migration as a valuable
development strategy, is to call into question the merits of international
development NGOs undertaking development work in the ‘south’.
Which is the more effective, NGOs exporting development programmes with
all the infrastructure and overheads involved, or promoting the import
of people who can work to generate more funds and manage their own development?
EXAMINING THE CONSTRUCTION OF WELLBEING ACROSS SPATIAL
BOUNDARIES
Katie Wright-Revolledo
The major question motivating this research responds to a central concern
of NGOs and policy makers working in the realm of development studies.
In order to produce policy interventions that are relevant to poor people,
it is necessary to develop the conceptual debate about poverty and wellbeing.
It is proposed here that migration is one useful lens or vehicle through
which this can be studied.
To date the research on migration and development has tended to focus
on migrant’s pursuit of economic security but the social and cultural
processes through which migrants construct their wellbeing have not been
well understood. Furthermore, research has tended to focus on the migrants
themselves without incorporating connectivity processes (such as the flow
of ideas and information) between migrants and communities that remain
in the country of origin.
The purpose of this research is to examine the social and cultural construction
of the wellbeing of migrants in specific societal contexts and as part
of this, the social and cultural connectivity processes (such as flows
of ideas) between migrants and communities remaining in the ‘home’
country. The research will examine the construction of wellbeing amongst
migrants from one purposely-selected developing country that are currently
living in northern and southern Europe. This will be done using the case
study of Peruvians living in London (UK) and Madrid (Spain). This will
be used to improve understanding of the social and cultural construction
of wellbeing of migrants in different societal contexts in such a way
to improve knowledge of this area and to make this accessible and relevant
to the needs of NGOs and policy makers.
HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT, ITC AND DIASPORIC RESOURCES:
CONNECTING THE NORTH TO THE SOUTH
Ismail Ibrahim and Sara Chadd
At the Millennium Summit in held in 2000, world leaders pledged to mobilize
political will, financial resources and innovative policies to cut global
poverty in half by 2015. Poverty has been identified as the greatest problem
inhibiting the growth and development of Africa. Poverty is a multidimensional
phenomenon, measured not only by the level of income but through other
indices such as knowledge, health, mortality rate etc. Lack of knowledge
and information isolation are some of the factors used by the poor and
marginalised people to describe their conditions. Poor people are vulnerable
and often lack the strength to engage in political struggles.
Further to last year’s DSA Conference, we find that typically in
national groups based in the northern hemisphere (Europe and North America),
migrant diasporas find themselves marginalized from the main work of both
government and NGOs. This has led to serious problems in areas where diasporas
settle. For instance, in Britain Inner cities, social deprivation is most
apparent and one consequence of this is racial disharmony. In Nottingham,
the racial disharmony among diaspora settlements are leading to gun crime
and the recent media headlines concerning the Chief Constable’s
loss of grip on law and order.
In this paper we examine how a better understanding of the South through
the prism of diasporic settlements in the North will foster the development
of strategies to combat poverty in the South and social exclusion in the
North. We take as our case study the situation of Nigerians settled in
the UK from which to examine the issue of social exclusion in the North.
We then compare this with the national situation in Nigeria to investigate
the issue of poverty in the South. Our aim is to draw a comparison and
to research a model which can turn Southern deprivation and Northern disharmony
into a more positive and functional social system.
There is much to be learned about racial tension and diasporic migration
from racial provenance. Our research suggests that greater understanding
of the origins and background of diasporas would positively inform situations
in Northern hemisphere inner cities.
We propose that ethnic provenance data both quantitative and qualitative
will permit new dimensions in NGO formation in the northern hemisphere,
while southern hemisphere NGOs can also benefit from increased understanding
in the north via their northern diasporas. Within our projected aims,
ITC “connecting the North to the South” is a key medium via
which to sustain an interchange of knowledge and competences between Nigeria
and the UK. Ultimately we hope to arrive at an ITC formula including software
design, which will permit the interchange of resources, knowledge, competence
and human capital where and when needed – a technology exchange.
This paper is, therefore, concerned with the symbiotic relationship which
can be achieved between northern diasporas and the deprivation in the
south. Thus we are aiming at a new model of human capital development,
utilising diasporic resources as development actors and agents.
SESSION B: FAITH BASED ORGANISATIONS
IN DEVELOPMENT
This session will explore issues related to Faith and Development, in
particular Faith-based development organisations. Including: collaboration
between NGOs of different faiths; how faith influences the work and focus
of NGOs; and the role of faith groups in poverty reduction.
Since the mid-1990s, civil society has been a significant locus of concern
in development discourse and policy but this concern has been noticeable
for its neglect of religion and faith and the organisational forms through
which they are expressed. Since the early 1980s, however, faith has become
a significant driver of change and faith-based organisations have become
important actors in efforts to fight global poverty. This paper traces
the growing prominence of FBOs in development contexts and argues that
FBOs are a complex set of actors that are still inadequately understood.
Using typologies in both cases, it argues that different types of FBOs
contribute to development (or other forms of change) in different ways
and that FBOs use faith differently as an impulse to action or as a social
and political construct. This variation or complexity, it concludes, presents
a number of challenges, but equally provides important opportunities,
for governments, donors and development NGOs concerned to build the complex
multi-stakeholder partnerships increasingly central to the promotion of
international development.
ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN INSPIRED NGOS: BETWEEN TACTICAL
COLLABORATION AND STRATEGIC DIFFIDENCE?
Carlo Benedetti, University of York
This paper focuses on the identification of different types of Islamic
and Christian inspired NGOs. Four ideal types are outlined following a
framework for the analysis of Religious NGOs (Berger, 2003). The possibilities
of collaboration between these NGOs are analysed. The paper argues there
is a greater likelihood of collaboration among NGOs closer to the moderate
end of the framework. However, collaboration remains difficult on a broad
strategic level and is in many cases limited to a field based, tactical
level. A broader mutual understanding is needed in order to improve global
coordination between NGOs coming from different religious traditions.
This paper examines the particular problems that arise in development
projects run by faith based NGOs. In particular, it focuses on the question
of how to take religion(s) seriously as part of people’s lives when
the NGO in question may be motivated by one particular faith and may disagree
with other faiths. I intend to explore this through the example of a Norwegian
church and development NGO, the Norwegian Mission Society (NMS), which
is based on a Christian ethos. NMS is ultimately motivated by the wish
to see non-Christians convert to Christianity, and the organisation does
not recruit staff unless they personally believe in the aim of converting
non-Christians. However, NMS is under pressure from one of its donors,
NORAD, as well as the Norwegian public, to run development projects that
are ‘unadulterated’ by any religious conversion activity whatsoever.
Officially, the organisation has put in place a policy on their projects
that meets this demand, and they now maintain strictly separate budgets
for their ‘conversion’ projects on the one hand and their
‘development’ projects on the other hand. Nevertheless, the
consequences in practice are less clear cut. In the paper I will tease
out some of the tensions involved in this field by describing a few episodes
from my fieldwork year in NMS, including a brief insight into one of their
development projects (a health clinic). The clinic was open to people
of all faiths on an equal basis. Nevertheless, the question of God and
development suddenly became pertinent when it was made clear that staff
felt comfortable with Christian prayer inside the clinic while distinctly
uncomfortable with non-Christian (‘traditional’) incantations
– to the point that this would be actively discouraged. This illustrates
well both the importance of explicitly including religion as part of the
development field while also raising our awareness of the dilemmas that
this creates for NGO staff and development policy.
Page last updated:
28 September, 2005
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