NGOs and international development: A review of thirty-five years of scholarship

Brass, Jennifer N.; Longhofer, Wesley; Robinson, Rachel Sullivan; Schnable, Allison

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.07.016

Cited by 131 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The organizational form of the intermediary organization at the implementation level within an otherwise uniform national‐level decentralization reform is thus an important aspect of context that shapes the effectiveness of the reform. This is in line with a broad body of scholarship on the involvement of NGOs in service delivery that is sometimes underemphasized in the decentralization literature and warrants greater attention therein (Brass et al ; Lipsky and Smith ; Mcloughlin ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Public Sector Governance Reform and the Motivation of Street‐Level Bureaucrats in Developing Countries

Zarychta

Grillos

Andersson

2019

Public Administration Review

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This article draws on health sector reform in Honduras to examine the mechanisms through which governance reforms shape the behavior of street-level bureaucrats. It combines insights from behavioral public administration with original data from lab-in-the-field workshops conducted with more than 200 bureaucrats to assess the relationship between decentralization and motivation. Findings show strong evidence that motivation, measured as self-sacrifice, is higher among bureaucrats in decentralized municipalities compared with bureaucrats in comparable centrally administered municipalities. Increased motivation is most pronounced in decentralized systems led by nongovernmental organizations compared with those led by municipal governments or associations. Additionally, the evidence suggests that higher motivation is related to changes in the composition of staff rather than socialization or changes among existing staff. Overall, this research helps move beyond indiscriminate calls for decentralization by highlighting the interplay between reform design and bureaucratic behavior, as well as the limitations of governance reforms in motivating more experienced bureaucrats. Evidence for Practice • Decentralization reforms that include performance-based incentives have both advantages and challenges;proponents of such reforms should consider the interplay between changes in governance structures and the behavior of frontline staff when advocating for, designing, and implementing such policies. • To the extent that local intermediary organizations have power over staff selection, they may be better positioned to identify motivated staff and incorporate those staff into service delivery than regional or central administrators. • Different strategies are needed to value and draw on the experiences of long-term staff members, for whom structural reforms and performance-based incentives may be less motivating. • Administrators should consider and try to account for the unintended consequences of reforms that introduce large numbers of new, less experienced staff into systems that deliver social services. University and a faculty affiliate of the Purdue Center for the Environment. Her research focuses on human decision-making and behavior in the context of sustainable development, particularly questions of participation, deliberation, collective action, and public goods provision.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Public Sector Governance Reform and the Motivation of Street‐Level Bureaucrats in Developing Countries

Zarychta

Grillos

Andersson

2019

Public Administration Review

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“…Some experts have expressed their reluctance to let public organisations collect sensitive data, particularly in non-democratic countries where "N[ational] S[tatistics] O[ffice]s may suffer from being perceived as "agents of the state"" (UNDP, 2009). Donor mistrust of state intervention largely explains the rise of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the development field, especially with respect to governance issues (Brass et al, 2018). The implicit assumption that private actors are more effective in promoting and monitoring human rights, democracy or accountability prevails.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The implicit assumption that private actors are more effective in promoting and monitoring human rights, democracy or accountability prevails. This assumption stems mainly from the underreporting of the negative or inconclusive results of NGO interventions (Banks et al, 2015;Brass, 2016;Brass et al, 2018). Even though the new development agenda and current experiences are gradually changing this perception, with some players claiming National Statistics Office (NSO) legitimacy to collect sensitive data (UNDP, 2018), prejudices remain strong.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear of the state in governance surveys? Empirical evidence from African countries

2019

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The need to collect data on governance-related issues has been growing since the 1990s. Demand gained momentum in 2015 with the adoption of SDG16 worldwide and Agenda 2063 in Africa. African countries played a key role in the adoption of SDG16 and are now leading the process of collecting harmonised household data on Governance, Peace and Security (GPS). Yet the possibility has recently been raised that sensitive survey data collected by government institutions are potentially biased due to self-censorship by respondents. This paper studies the potential bias in responses to what are seen as sensitive questions, here governance issues, in surveys conducted by public organisations. We compare Afrobarometer (AB) survey data, collected in eight African countries by self-professed independent institutions, with first-hand harmonised GPS survey data collected by National Statistics Offices (NSOs). We identify over 20 similarly worded questions on democracy, trust in institutions and perceived corruption. We first compare responses from AB survey respondents based on who they believe the survey sponsor to be. No systematic response bias is found between respondents who believe the government to be behind the AB survey and those who consider it to be conducted by an independent institution. The absence of a systematic self-censorship or attenuation bias is further evidenced by means of an experimental design, whereby responses from GPS surveys conducted by NSOs (the treatment) are compared with AB surveys sponsored by reportedly independent bodies. Our results provide evidence of the capacity and legitimacy of government-related organisations to collect data on governance as a matter of national interest and sovereignty.

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“…An English-language literature review on NGOs across sectors and geographies indicates that governance and health are the most examined sectors (Brass et al 2018).…”

Section: From Representing the Grassroots To Service Provisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although research on NGOs as service deliverers has reported largely positive results, broader issues of health systems and population health are under-examined and there is a need for researchers to engage more with complexity and context (Brass et al 2018). Medical anthropologists, have made important contributions, to this end, and have associated the emergence of NGOs as health service providers with undesirable consequences.…”

Section: From Representing the Grassroots To Service Provisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Servants as Development Brokers: The Shaping of INGOs’ Reducing Teenage Pregnancy Projects in Malawi’s Primary Education Sector

Pot

2018

Forum for Development Studies

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International non-governmental organisations (INGOs) play an increasingly prominent and multifaceted role in the field of global healthas policy advocates, recipients of donor funds, and implementers of donor-funded programmes. Many such NGOs and their local affiliates have become highly professionalized and oriented towards the priorities of global-level actors, with potential negative consequences for their ability to represent the grassroots and to challenge structures of power and inequality. In this thesis, I examine the dynamics around INGO project implementation in Malawi, within the broader context of overlapping development initiatives, shifting priorities, conditions of scarcity and donor dependence, and poor health outcomes. I draw on ethnographic research conducted in rural Malawi between May 2015 and August 2016, which focused on the implementation of a Save the Children project that aimed to improve maternal health by reducing teenage pregnancies, primarily by keeping girls in school and increasing their use of reproductive health services, notably contraceptives. My ethnographic gaze is on the individuals who serve as intermediaries between donors, northern (I)NGOs and local recipients, who I conceptualise as brokers. They include INGO district staff, primary school teachers, health workers, village heads, and community representatives. Through a focus on their practices, I examine how they translate global norms and aims into programmatic practice. The thesis brings together three peerreviewed articles. The first (in Forum for Development Studies) discusses how primary school teachers deal with, and implement, various overlapping NGO initiatives targeting girls, and the implications for public sector institutions. The second article (in Medical Anthropology) examines how INGOs' programmatic focus on behaviour change interventions inadvertently results in staff blaming culture for teenage pregnancies and school dropout, reinforcing ethnic stereotypes originating in historical inequalities and previous health development initiatives which targeted harmful cultural practices. The third article (in Reproductive Health Matters) analyses the responses of village heads, midwives and women to the reintroduction of userfees for maternal health services resulting from donors' suspension of budget support, shifting national priorities, and unstable service delivery contracts. Overall, I argue that examining the practices of the brokers who implement and reshape health development initiatives can shed light on policy-to-practice gaps and how unintended consequences occur. My ethnographic research thus helps to explain why initiatives might not be sustainable despite the intention of donors and INGOs to strengthen existing public and community structures. 1 This research is led by Professor Sidsel Roalkvam, Co-Investigator Katerini Storeng, and senior researchers at the University of Malawi-Professor Blessings Chinsinga, Peter Mvula and Joseph Chunga. Fieldwork in Malawi has been carried out by three Universit...

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NGOs and international development: A review of thirty-five years of scholarship

Cited by 131 publications

References 56 publications

Public Sector Governance Reform and the Motivation of Street‐Level Bureaucrats in Developing Countries

Public Sector Governance Reform and the Motivation of Street‐Level Bureaucrats in Developing Countries

Fear of the state in governance surveys? Empirical evidence from African countries

Public Servants as Development Brokers: The Shaping of INGOs’ Reducing Teenage Pregnancy Projects in Malawi’s Primary Education Sector

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