Articles authored by Wilson, Gordon

Articles

Technological capability underpins economic development, but analysis of interviews with workers in international, UK-based NGOs suggests that it is rarely addressed explicitly when considering support for development work. Instead, the core values of these NGOs tend to determine their attitudes towards technology, with the result that their impact on the development of technological capability can be contradictory. This is borne out by analysis of 11 small-scale enterprises in Zimbabwe which receive NGO support.
How organisations and associations can work together over time to develop new norms and practices which enhance the sustainability of development initiatives is an ongoing problem. This article looks at how processes of negotiating shared agendas over the meanings of sustainability, exploring assumptions behind proposed actions, establishing means of accountability and setting up mechanisms for investigating cause and effect in the processes and outcome of development programmes can be a source of action-learning.