Snakes in Paradise: NGOs and the Aid Industry in Africa

by Hans Holmen

Overview

Beginning in the 1980s, sub-Saharan Africa witnessed a veritable explosion of NGOs and CSOs engaged in efforts to develop the subcontinent. Often praised for their commitment, flexibility, close contact with grassroots movements and marginalized groups, these organizations have become the darlings of donors and the UN system. During the same period, however, rural Africa has sunk deeper into poverty. The massive NGO engagement appears not to have made any meaningful progress.

Snakes in Paradise breaks through the generalizations and neat theories to discover why these efforts have failed. Focusing especially on those local NGOs that are frequently overlooked by studies that cover the major international players, Holmén uncovers an NGO landscape that is considerably more complex than the popular development literature would have people believe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781565493018
Publisher:	Kumarian Press, Inc.
Publication date:	12/28/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Hans Holmén is an Associate Professor in Social and Economic Geography at the department of Water and Environmental Studies, University of Linköping, Sweden. He received his PhD at Lund University in 1991 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1996. He joined Linköping University in 1997, where he teaches geography and development studies. Holmén has been a member and board member of various NGOs in Sweden – trade union, student union, consumer and housing cooperatives. He worked for a northern NGO in Jordan in the early 1980s and has conducted research on organizations and development since the 1980s. Since 2001, he has been a member of the African-Swedish research team Afrint, which combines micro- and macro-level studies to identify drivers of change in African agriculture ultimately aiming at enhanced agricultural productivity and improved food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xix

Abbreviations and Acronyms xxi

Part I Introduction

1 Development and Peasants' Associations in Sub-Saharan Africa 3

An African Dilemma 3

Organizations and Development 13

Organization Building from Below-When, Where, and Why? 31

Part II The Eastern and Southern African Experience

2 The ESA Experience-Part 1 49

The World They're In 49

Public Decentralization, Development, and Collective Action 62

3 The ESA Experience-Part 2 85

NGOs and Peasants' Associations in ESA 85

Preliminary Assessment 104

Part III The West African Experience

4 Decentralization and Organizations in West Africa 113

Mali 116

Senegal 117

Burkina Faso 120

Benin 123

Cote d'Ivoire 125

Ghana 126

Nigeria 127

5 Farmers' Associations in West Africa 133

Cooperatives, Producers' Organizations, and Farmers' Associations 133

Regional Cooperation 160

6 Interpreting the West African Experience 165

Success Stories 165

Why the Successes? 166

Possible Success Stories 169

Geography and Associations 174

What's So Fascinating about Community? 177

Summing Up 182

Are West African Associations Leading the Way? 184

Part IV Another World Is Possible

7 Another World Is Possible 195

Development Trends and Potentials among African Rural Organizations 195

Implications for Donors 221

Notes 231

Reference List 243

Index 275

About the Author 294