International Development Organizations Research Articles

The International and the Local Worker: Understanding Multi-layered Processes of Racialisation in International Development Organisations

AbstractThis article seeks to examine how institutional hierarchies relate to processes of racialisation in development organisations that are multiracial. Complementing and building on existing literature focussed on race and development it shows how processes of racialisation help to produce and legitimate distinctions between local and international development professionals. It argues these divides cannot always be neatly mapped onto phenotype but are related to processes of racialisation tied to knowledge and class and this, in turn, helps to produce inequalities—power imbalances, pay differences and differential access to organisational benefits—between development workers. Therefore, while forms of racism and their material impacts shape the experiences of international staff of colour, there is another layer of racialisation at play that cannot be explained through existing racial categories but that draws on colonial ideas of epistemic superiority to create specific forms of racialisation within development organisations.

Soft power in complicated and complex education systems: Gender, education and global governance in organisational responses to SDG 4

This article examines how the distinction between complicated and complex education systems contributes to our understanding of global governance and how “soft power” concerned with gender is used in international development organisations’ responses to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, the global goal for education. Four global governance approaches which shape these organisations are distinguished: partnership building, gender mainstreaming, gender activism and contestation by global feminist movements. These strands of soft power have implications for how meanings of gender, education, power and accountability are interpreted. The work of three organisations – the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the Gender at the Centre Initiative (GCI) and the Malala Fund – are reviewed to exemplify these global governance approaches. The analysis draws on a close reading of the organisations’ published documents to build a history of how the gender concerns of SDG 4 came to be interpreted, negotiated, contested or ignored. The activities of the three organisations show considerable interplay between concepts of complicated and complex education systems. The discussion raises questions regarding what kind of work soft power in gender and education does in a context of huge and growing global inequalities and insecurities. In addition, the question is posed why there is still no institutional base to articulate a global feminist politics which confronts and seeks to dismantle unjust structures of power.

Animal Welfare Guidelines for International Development Organisations in the Global South.

International development organisations have improved billions of human lives in the Global South. However, in both their projects and advice to governments, most of these organisations neglect animal welfare. This blindspot matters. Poor welfare standards risk the organisation's reputation, particularly with donors; they reduce livestock lifespans and productivity, harming recipients; and they cause animals unnecessary pain and suffering. Here, we set out animal welfare guidelines for international development organisations. They were developed through extensive stakeholder engagement with organisations, donors, and recipients, especially in Africa. To comprehensively cover animal welfare, the guidelines encompass governance structure within the organisation, staff training, standard operating procedures, water, food, housing, social isolation, enrichment, drainage and waste disposal, disease, invasive procedures, transport, slaughter, breeds, record-keeping, and monitoring and evaluation of success. We urge international development organisations to adopt and institutionalise these guidelines, so they promote good animal welfare.

Teaching Tech by Rote: Socialization into Digital Literacies in a Ghanaian Classroom

ABSTRACT Building on decades of interdisciplinary language-centered research on literacies, this article is an exploration of the many ideologies about technology, literacy, and “good” learners, and the resulting tangle of contradictory practices, that converge in rural Ghanaian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) classrooms. In addition to tracing how Western ideologies of technological transformation were imported into the design of ICT policy and curricula via international development organizations, the article contrasts the enduring routines and practices of hierarchical knowledge transfer in Ghanaian classrooms with assumptions about exploratory users embedded in the design of technologies primarily produced in and for North American contexts. In doing so, the article highlights the regimes of participation (Flamenbaum & George 2023), or the interplay between these taken-for-granted ideologies, technological affordances, and available roles for participation in knowledge production, which dynamically structure participatory engagements with digital literacies. Such a lens highlights the ways in which persistent policy framings of digital literacies as universal, neutral universal encounters between individuals and particular hardware or software enable and reproduce longstanding processes of disciplining marginalized populations.

Navigating Loan Recovery Process from SMEs: Identifying Critical Challenges for Microfinance Institutions in Tanzania

The purpose of the study is to examine the loan recovery challenges facing Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Tanzania. The study took place at Nuru Financial and Business Services (NFBS), the Self-Microfinance Fund (SMF), and Ameic Microcredit Limited (AMC). These are among the microfinance institutions found in Dar es Salaam. The researchers employed a descriptive research design and used NFBS, SMF, and AML as study cases. The study involved 50 respondents, including credit officers, obtained through simple random sampling. In the data collection, the study used semi-structured questionnaires to gather primary data. Also, the study used secondary data from documents available at NFBS, SMF, and AML. Data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics with frequency, percentages, and mean. The study found that loan recovery was a challenging task and faced several obstacles, such as insufficiency of capital to cover recovery costs, the presence of weak internal controls on loan recovery, higher interest rates, and facing an extraordinary event during the loan recovery process. Others are getting into bitter relations with customers during loan recovery due to the incompetence of staff to address loan recovery processes. Finally, the study recommends the government provide financial support or subsidies to microfinance institutions to cover recovery costs, such as grants, low-interest loans, or financial assistance programmes. Establish and enforce regulatory standards for internal controls within microfinance institutions. Implementing policies to regulate interest rates charged by microfinance institutions to ensure fairness and transparency. Establish a legal framework to handle extraordinary events during the loan recovery process. Microfinance institutions should explore partnerships with international development organisations, impact investors, or donor agencies to secure additional funding for loan recovery efforts. Loan officers should be trained in cost-effective recovery strategies, and SMEs should engage in responsible borrowing practices to minimise the risk of default.

Applying Self-Determination Theory to International Development and Humanitarian Organisations

International development and humanitarian organisations are increasingly focused on transitioning from top-down models of practice to ‘locally-led approaches’ that recognise local epistemologies, capabilities and visions of change. Despite this focus, there remains limited practical guidance to support organisations making this transition. In this article, we aim to suggest ways in which Self-Determination Theory, a well-known theoretical framework in psychology and education, could be applied in the context of development and humanitarian organisations to facilitate transitions to locally-led partnerships and ways of working. We provide an overview of Self-Determination Theory and where it has been used in the development and humanitarian contexts. We propose its feasibility as a framework for transition to locally-led partnerships and approaches in these contexts and suggest specific strategies under a Self-Determination Theory framework that organisations could employ to support both international and local staff members in organisational transitions to locally-led practice.

Relationship, governance, and upgrading opportunities in the Shea value Chain: a descriptive analysis from Northern Ghana

ABSTRACT This study explores the relationships between value chain actors in the shea sector in Northern Ghana, the governance mechanism that prevails, and the upgrading opportunities for upstream actors. The value chain analysis (VCA) framework was the main analytical tool employed for this assessment. Participating actors in the shea global value chain were shea kernel producers, shea butter processors, aggregators, and industrial processors and exporters of shea products. The results showed that, although women shea upstream actors (especially shea kernel producers) interface directly with aggregators, the relationship is weak and restricted to spot buying, and arms-length market governance relationship. Although the upstream actors are enthusiastic to upgrade their products, they are constrained by inadequate access to requisite assets, resources, capabilities, and skills. The shea upstream actors were confined to low value-adding segments and activities of the shea-GVC. Industrial processors and exporters appear reluctant to directly support upstream women processors to upgrade through offering credits, technology transfer and skills enhancement. Lowering barriers to upgrading opportunities in the value chain calls for intervention of the government, and support from international development organizations (NGOs), and midstream and downstream actors. Government must create an enabling policy environment that incentivize downstream actors to build capacities of upstream actors.

The economic impact of terrorism – the efficiency of funds allocated by international development organizations (Gaza Strip Case Study)

Terrorism is a concept that has existed internationally since ancient times, receiving different names from specialists depending on the period in which it was identified, the means and methods used in the activities carried out or the aims pursued by the actions of the members of various organizations.One thing we would like to point out is that as long as there are different points of view, as long as the interests of some of the parties involved in a conflict, including those of an economic nature, are at odds, then the conditions will be created for the development or coagulation of resistance movements, which by their actions will be labelled as terrorist organizations.One of the main terrorist organizations causing immeasurable economic damage, and whose actions are also likely to affect international relations, is Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya – HAMAS, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, which since 2006 has taken control of the Gaza Strip using armed force, imposing political and economic separation from the Palestinian Authority.

Assessing the Potential of Digital Tools to Enhance Transparency and Traceability in The Cocoa Value Chain in Ivory Coast

Problem The cocoa industry in Ivory Coast faces significant challenges related to market access, income and transparency despite being the leading global cocoa exporter. Research Aim Therefore, this mixed-methods study aimed to assess digital solutions to address these issues by improving traceability and empowering Ivorian cocoa producers. Research Method Surveys and interviews were conducted with 12 farmers in Lôh Djiboua, 5 buyers, and 3 experts. Results The key findings revealed that 72.7 per cent of farmers were willing to adopt a mobile app to enhance productivity and connect with buyers. However, barriers like limited digital literacy and poor rural infrastructure were identified. Implications and Recommendations The findings in this research would be highly relevant to cocoa cooperatives and associations, cocoa buyers and exporters in Ivory Coast, government agencies and policymakers, international development organizations, and academic researchers. In addition, the recommendations include expanding digital networks through partnerships, implementing training programs for farmers, and ensuring user-friendly app interfaces. Further research should evaluate improvements in the value chain after application implementation. Conclusions Overall, the study demonstrated that tailored mobile-based innovations can benefit cocoa value chain actors by increasing transparency.

Energy, gender and development: the impact of energy efficient cookstoves intervention on the welfare of women in Ethiopia

PurposeThe use of energy efficient cookstoves (EECS) has been promoted for a long and considered as instrumental in the efforts to mitigate the multiple social, economic and environmental consequences of traditional biomass cookstoves. Despite this, the adoption of EECS in pre-urban and rural Ethiopia is still very low. In response to this, the government of Ethiopia, in collaboration with international development organizations, implemented numerous initiatives aimed at improving the availability and use of EECS as part of the effort to support sustainable development. However, very little is known about the impact of the introduced EECS on improving the welfare of women. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to assess the impact of improved cookstoves projects on the welfare of women in Yaya Gullele district, Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approachA mixed research design was adopted to conduct the study. The quantitative data for the study were collected using a structured questionnaire by interviewing 388 randomly selected respondents. The data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential data analysis techniques, including the propensity score matching model using STATA.FindingsResults of the study revealed that adoption of EECS has reduced fuel wood expense (124.65 Ethiopian Birr [ETB]/week), reduced five-year stove expense (404.67 ETB) and increased regular savings (116.58 ETB/month), which contributed for an increased annual income of participants (5,594.42 ETB). The result of the study also indicated that the use of EECS enabled the beneficiary women to reduce the amount of fuel wood use by 29.4 kg/week, which in turn reduced forest degradation and emission by 2.34 tons of CO2e/year/household. Besides, it reduced the drudgery on women in terms of reduced time to cook (53 min/day), reduced time to collect fuelwood and prepare food (3.95 h/week) and reduced frequency of fuelwood collection trips (3.42 trips/week). The study results, in general, indicated that the adoption of EECS improved the welfare of women in the study area, where the majority of women have been suffering from the burden of using traditional stoves and associated impacts for a long.Practical implicationsEnergy is central to most of the development-related challenges and opportunities every country faces today. The result of the study implied that policies and strategies intended at improving the availability and use of EECS as part of the effort to support sustainable development need to consider integrating such context-referenced, locally manageable and affordable EECS into the clean developmental strategies of the country.Originality/valueInsights from this study can support development practitioners and policymakers to make informed decisions regarding future interventions in the use of energy efficient that have the potential to several economic, social and environmental positive development outcomes.

A New Approach to Measure Absorptive Capacity and Appropriability: a Case of Study in Emerging Markets

AbstractAbsorptive capacity (AC) and appropriability (KA) are crucial elements in generating competitive advantages and improving innovation performance in different countries and organizations. Moreover, the relationship between AC and KA has not been sufficiently studied, and there is still not a clear understanding of the impact they have on in the generation of rents and value. This research proposes a methodology to analyze AC and KA at a country level using the scientific capabilities of a country as base. We identified the Colombian scientific literature SKL (1680 record) from the Patents Lens database, which have been cited at least once or more per patent (3066 records), and we identified the papers that were cited by this SKL (50,697) in order identify the flows between forward citations (FC) and backward citations (BC) at a country level. We associated BC to the AC acquisition stage, SKL to assimilation, and FC to transformation and exploitation AC phases. The patents were also associated with KA. In addition, we focused on the KA process, analyzing the organizations involved in the SKL and KA process by studying when KA was done by local organizations, by international organizations in the SKL development, or when knowledge was leaked -knowledge spillovers- KS. Finally, we identified when the SKL organization was the corresponding author to analyze whether KA changes in these situations. Our main conclusion was that KA and the last stages of AC of native scientific development rarely happen in Colombia. The primary outcome of this absorption is a KS.

Data Wormholes and Speculative Rice Fields: An Infrastructural Politics of Anticipating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The 2015 Paris declaration obligated international development organizations to assess the climate compatibility of their projects. For irrigation projects, like those negotiated between the Agence Française de Développement, and the Cambodian government in the early 2020s, calculations of estimated greenhouse gas emissions have become important requirements. But how to estimate emissions from future rice fields and the effects of irrigation infrastructures that do not exist? To address this issue, emissions calculators have been developed as a means to bridge climate science and development knowledge infrastructures, so that data and forms of calculation from climate science can easily enter the world of development. However, by engaging in an infrastructural inversion, we argue that this understanding is flawed. Drawing on a case study of an irrigation project in Cambodia, we show that heterogeneous data concatenations are continuously transformed in the movement across infrastructures until referentiality breaks down. Emission calculators operate as a data wormhole, emitting extremely uncertain numbers that contribute to a problematic and speculative politics of anticipation. In contrast with the dominant politics of anticipation, which depends on futile efforts to neutralize uncertainty, infrastructural inversion makes it possible to envision a decentered politics attentive to distributed agency.

Teaching development practices post‐Covid‐19: Findings from a literature review, a survey and interviews in Aotearoa New Zealand

AbstractThis article details findings from research to re‐design a postgraduate course on development practices in Development Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand, aiming to include the impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic. Reviewing literature, surveying recently graduated students and interviewing senior staff in international development organisations, five topics emerged as forces shaping development practices in a post‐covid‐19 world. Analysis suggests interviewed staff aligned with views in literature. However, comparing views of the current and next generation of development practitioners reveals quite diverging views as to what would be most important for a course on development practices.

Living and learning in the field of international development education

Karen Mundy is a Professor of Education Policy and Leadership at the University of Toronto, and an award-winning scholar in the field of International Education Development. Her career has included sustained engagement and leadership in international development organizations, most notably the Global Partnership for Education and UNESCO. In this piece she reflects on current challenges and opportunities for our field derived from three main autobiographical streams: her life as a scholar; within international development organizations; and her private or personal life.

The importance of accounting for equity in disaster risk models

Societal efforts to understand and mitigate threats posed by hazards are often informed by complex disaster risk models. Despite research demonstrating the disproportionate effects of disasters on vulnerable groups, current risk modeling approaches lack robust methods to account for such equity concerns. Consequently, efforts to develop evidence-based disaster risk management interventions may lack awareness of differential risks in the settings where they are applied. Here, we draw on the relevant literature to develop a typology for characterizing current approaches to incorporating equity into risk modeling. Using this typology, we then evaluated 69 risk assessments conducted by major international development organizations. We found that only ~ 28% of risk models attempt a quantitative evaluation of the differential impacts of disasters and climate change. We then used an equity-sensitive approach to reconstruct a recent risk assessment and show that important elements are missed when equity is excluded in disaster risk modeling.

How are accountability and organisational learning related? A study of German bilateral development cooperation

We analyse qualitative data collected from employees at Germany’s two main international development organisations, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) Development Bank, to study how upward accountability and organisational learning interact in the world’s second largest foreign aid system. Goffman’s ‘staging’ heuristic is applied to unpack social practices in these two organisations. We find that employees navigate two separate domains, a frontstage and a backstage. They consider the federal bureaucracy an audience expecting a coherent storyline despite the messy realities of foreign aid. In response, they engage in impression management on a frontstage while shielding their backstages from scrutiny to maximise autonomy. As a result, organisational learning at GIZ and KfW in Goffman’s terms focuses on collective efficacy at satisfying accountability expectations through staged performances. We relate these insights to the hierarchical structure of Germany’s foreign aid system, the role of organisational interests and prevailing professional norms.

Natural resource rents and access to finance

Broadening access to finance is among the top priorities for governments and international development organizations worldwide. This study examines the impact of natural resource rents on access to finance in financial institutions and financial markets across 109 countries from 1996 to 2020. The results of dynamic two-step system generalized method of moments estimation demonstrate that total natural resource rents hinder access to finance in financial institutions and markets, confirming the natural resource curse hypothesis. Specifically, rents from oil, coal, minerals, and forests negatively affect access to finance in financial institutions and markets, while gas rent has surprisingly a positive effect on both. Furthermore, institutional quality significantly promotes access to finance in financial institutions and markets. All aspects of institutional quality (control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality, rule of law, and voice and accountability) positively affect access to finance except regulatory quality, which has an insignificant effect on access to finance in financial institutions. Moreover, our findings show that institutional quality significantly moderates the effect of natural resource rents on access to finance, specifically, it varies depending on whether the institutions are strong or weak, being positive in the former case and negative in the latter. The study conducts several robustness tests using additional controls, alternative measures of financial access, and sample sensitivity analysis, all of which confirm the findings. Finally, we suggest policy implications for relevant stakeholders.

The African origin of public policy, programme and project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practices

The literature has robust contestation about the origin of public policy, programme and project monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Cloete (2016) argues that public policy, programme and project M&E originated in Europe and America and was introduced in Africa by colonisers who divided the African continent among themselves in the early 1880s. Cloete (2016) does not explain why there was no public policy, programme or project M&E in Africa or any other non-western part of the world before the arrival of western colonisers. Mouton (2010) also argues that M&E was introduced in Africa by international development organisations and financial organisations in the 1980s. According to Mouton (2010), these western development organisations and financial institutions introduced M&E to the African continent as a condition for accessing foreign aid and as a funding requirement for the projects these institutions were funding. Neither Mouton (2010) nor Cloete (2016) accounts for ample literature which demonstrates that M&E practices existed in Africa (and in China) thousands of years before the arrival of the international development organisation and international financial organisations in these parts of the world. This paper uses the Secondary Data Analysis (Archival Study) approach to provide a systematic and chronological analysis of the available literature to trace the genesis of public policy, programme and project M&E as a practice. The findings in this paper indicate that M&E could potentially have become a practice in African countries such as Egypt and Asian countries such as China long before it was a practice in the U.S. and European countries. However, evidence suggests that academics and practitioners in the U.S. and European countries could have compiled the first recorded theoretical academic content about M&E models and approaches currently being used to train people who want to take up a career or profession in M&E.

Pathways of Global Cultural Diffusion: Mass Media and People’s Moral Declarations about Men’s Violence against Women

Current theories of global cultural diffusion outline abstract mechanisms through which cultural scripts spread across the world. To reveal how scripts reach individuals, one must identify the specific pathways of diffusion. I examine the case of how scripts about gender relations and violence are diffused through mass media to people in Malawi. Using a mixed-methods approach, I find that international development organizations work with Malawian journalists to produce an array of content denouncing the practice of men abusing women. Entertainment media companies, however, disseminate content portraying patriarchal gender stereotypes. I show that mass media content critical of men’s violence of women is positively associated with people’s stated rejection of this practice, whereas individuals’ exposure to content mixed with patriarchal scripts is not. Notably, a one-standard-deviation increase in the number of newspaper articles critically covering men’s abuse toward women in the 30 days leading up to a person’s unique survey interview date is associated with a 3.2 (women) or 2.1 (men) percentage-point increase in the probability of respondents stating that they condemn such violence. Broadly, the results outline a multifaceted portrait of global cultural diffusion, with liberal and patriarchal scripts simultaneously reaching individual people.

Taliban's war on educating girls and women must end now: A call for global actions

Taliban's war on educating girls and women must end now: A call for global actions