NGO Power: A Questionable Panacea

Abstract

Undermining Development: The Absence of Power among Local NGOs in Africa. By Sarah Michael. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005. 224 pp., $22.95 (ISBN: 0-253-21772-5). The title of Sarah Michael's Undermining Development: The Absence of Power among Local NGOs in Africa accurately describes both her thesis and her principal concerns. The study, which compares development related, nongovernmental organizations in sub-Saharan Africa with their counterparts in Asia and Latin America, serves Michael's primary purpose, which is to identify strategies that will empower local African organizations. In this regard, Michael's research reflects the realities that face the international development community, and it points to adjustments that are needed generally to support local organizations' efforts to achieve sustainability. Michael contends that the lack of power that characterizes indigenous nongovernmental organizations in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the primary factors undermining development in Africa. This powerlessness can be correlated with the overall state of underdevelopment on the continent. Michael is interested in knowing why African nongovernmental organizations have not succeeded in positioning themselves as powerful instruments for development given that some of their counterparts in Asia and Latin America have been able to shift the balance of power in their favor. She goes beyond the traditional rhetoric that points to the flaws of African organizations. In particular, she examines the evolution and the environmental factors that have been conducive to the empowerment of Asian and Latin American groups. This analysis becomes her frame of reference for helping indigenous African organizations appropriate more power for themselves. Power, according to Michael, is not an end in itself. Rather, she hypothesizes that the attainment of power by local organizations will subsequently result in the sustainability of their programs and organizations. This sustainability (that is, viability) will enable them to contribute more significantly to the development of the African continent. Michael introduces her topic by suggesting that a shift in power in favor of the South generally could be beneficial to the African …