Abstract

Can non-governmental organisations contribute to more socially just, alternative forms of development? Or are they destined to work at the margins of dominant development models determined by others? Addressing this question, this book brings together leading international voices from academia, NGOs and the social movements. It provides a comprehensive update to the NGO literature and a range of critical new directions to thinking and acting around the challenge of development alternatives. The book's originality comes from the wide-range of new case-study material it presents, the conceptual approaches it offers for thinking about development alternatives, and the practical suggestions for NGOs. At the heart of this book is the argument that NGOs can and must re-engage with the project of seeking alternative development futures for the world's poorest and more marginal. This will require clearer analysis of the contemporary problems of uneven development, and a clear understanding of the types of alliances NGOs need to construct with other actors in civil society if they are to mount a credible challenge to disempowering processes of economic, social and political development.
'This is a timely addition to the literature on non-governmental organisations and development. Up-to-date, critical and historically informed, its seventeen chapters are written by a potent combination of both well-known experts and original new voices.' David Lewis, London School of Economics and Political Science 'This book offers a novel and reflective framework for revisiting NGO's efficacy in fashioning alternative forms of development in the post-NGO boom period. Against current security agendas, the authors envision types of NGO practice, orientation, and focus that that hold out hope for their foundational mission of "being alternative."' Arturo Escobar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ‘These essays ... provide a number of useful insights into the NGO world.' North South Magazine
Anthony Bebbington is Professor of Nature, Society and Development in the Institute of Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester, an ESRC Professorial Fellow, and also a member and research affiliate of the Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales, Lima, Peru. He has previously held positions at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Cambridge, the International Institute for Environment and Development, the Overseas Development Institute and the World Bank. Sam Hickey is lecturer in International Development in the Institute of Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester. Diana Mitlin is an economist and social development specialist with staff posts at both the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester.