Ecological damage, human rights and oil: Local advocacy NGOs dialogic action and alternative accounting practices

Abstract

This study explores why local NGOs in the Niger Delta integrate dialogic action and accounts into their campaigns to protect the human, economic and environmental rights of indigenous communities. The NGOs considered their alternative-accounts effective in problematizing the need for greater accountability, giving greater visibilities to unsustainable practices, building the capacity of the indigenous people, creating networks of engagement, giving voice to indigenous communities and addressing some of the power imbalances in this region. NGOs and local community representatives asserted that the production and communication of accounts of their suffering were making a difference and creating hope for future change.