Development is a complex process of negotiation over meanings, values, and social goals within the sphere of public action, not merely a question of project-based interventions, or of quantifiable inputs and outputs. This collection of papers draws on The Open University's path-breaking work in the field of development management, and includes in-depth accounts by academics and 'development managers' that range from civil society organisations in Brazil to NGO workers in Egypt, government departments in Tanzania and Poland, donor agencies in Bangladesh, and black feminist activists in the UK. Contributors include Simon Bell, Jo Chataway, Dorcas Robinson, Ramya Subrahmanian, Alan Thomas, David Wield, and Gordon Wilson, and guest-editors Tom Hewitt and Hazel Johnson, all of The Open University.'
Contributors; Preface; Introductory essay Development management and the aid chain: the case of NGO's; What makes good development management?; Tools for project development within a public action; Institutional sustainability as learning; Managing institutional change: the science and technology systems of Eastern Europe and East Africa; Inclusive planning and allocation for rural services; Finding out rapidly: a soft systems approach to training needs analysis in Thailand; Matching services with local preferences: managing primary education services in a rural district of India; The development management task and reform of 'public' social services; An endogenous empowerment strategy: a case study of Nigerian women; Fundraising in Brazil: the major implications for civil society organisations and international NGO's; Routes of funding, roots of trust?; Northern NGO's, Southern NGO's, donors, and the rise of direct funding; Relevance in the 21st century: the case for devolution and global association of international of NGO's; Northern words, Southern readings; Whose terms?; Observations on 'development management' in an English city; Information Technology and the management of corruption; Petty corruption and development; The need for reliable systems: genedered work in Oxfam's Uganda programme; Domestic violence, deportation, and women's resistance: notes on managing inter-sectionality; A day in the life of a development manager; Funding preventive or curative care? The Assiut Burns Project; Small enterprise opportunities in municiple solid waste management; An innovative community-based waste disposal scheme in Hyderbad; Annotated Bibliography; Addresses of publishers and other organisations
Deborah Eade is editor of the multi-disciplinary journal Development in Practice and an independent development consultant. She has worked for several development NGOs and was Oxfam's Deputy Regional Representative in Central America. She is the author of Capacity-Building (Oxfam, 1998). Tina Wallace is an independent development consultant who has specialised in management and gender issues. She has studied and taught in Africa and Europe and has extensive NGO experience. She is now based in the UK, and teaches at Oxford Brookes University.
"Among the contributors there is a good balance between practically orientated academics and reflective practitioners. The book is honest about problems, and provides the raw materials for their resolution without the reader feeling that the book is peddling pet solutions. It meets a real need and should be of interest to students, thoughtful practitioners and scholars alike."
- Public Administration and Development, No. 21, 2001.