Governance and public policy

This article deals with certain themes concerning religion, culture, and development, in part to help to set the context for the rest of this edition. It considers the religious and/or cultural background of many Northern agencies and individuals, and its effect on their development agenda. Arguing that local cultural values define what development means, it looks at some of the cultural issues -- political and moral, thematic and practical -- which arise in North-South development interaction. It concludes that the history of intervention, whatever its motives, has been a sorry one.

The author presents his views on the essential ingredients of development, comparing the development ideal with its reality. Development is about change for the better, which must be appropriate (culturally, economically, technologically etc.) if change is to take root, and gain the participation of beneficiaries. Equity and justice are at the heart of any change for the better, as is sustainability. True development cannot be measured in solely economic terms, but must also include changes in the quality of lives, which are less tangible.

While gender asymmetries have long been recognised in formal development policies, poverty-alleviation schemes generally display a discrepancy in incorporating the insights of gender analysis. This article explores the experience of NGOs which have successfully incorporated gender-awareness into the formulation of anti-poverty interventions. It shows that increasing poor women's organisational experience is critical to ensuring that their needs and perspectives inform the planning process.

'Empowerment' is a term often used in development work, but rarely defined. This article explores the meaning of empowerment, in the context of its root-concept, power. Different understandings of what constitutes power lead to a variety of interpretations of empowerment, and hence to a range of implications for development policy and practice.

`Social integration' is one of the three main agenda items for the World Summit for Social Development (to be held in Copenhagen, March 1995), as identified by the General Assembly of the United Nations. This term is ambiguous and can be understood in a variety of ways, not all of which are equally useful. The author describes trends of social integration, encompassing issues around globalisation and insecurity, marginalisation and identity, and democracy, representation, and accountability.

The use of the `development limited liability company' (LLC) is expanding. There are important differences between the broad social goals of development and the narrow economic ones of the LLC: they are concerned with people and profit respectively. The author discusses the problems likely to arise when NGOs attempt to use LLCs directly, as part of their administrative or funding arrangements.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) believe that the increase in poverty as a result of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) is a short-term consequence and that the benefits of SAPs filter down, in the longer term, to the least privileged members of society. Emergency Social Funds (ESFs) are designed to protect vulnerable people from the worst of this impact. ESFs try to ensure income through infrastructural and income-generating schemes, as well as feeding and nutrition programmes.

The World Bank's reliance on market forces when trying to achieve economic growth produces problems when implementing the Bank's strategies. The author puts forward his view that poverty should not merely be defined in terms of income, and that the struggle against poverty should respect the culture and views of the poor themselves, building into programmes the flexibility to respond to their views and enhance their political influence.

An aid programme's potential contribution to social development is increased if those designing and administering it are informed about the social context in which aid is provided. A key factor in the British government's aid programme is the Overseas Development Association's (ODA's) understanding of social development. The author gives her views on ODA policy and basic questions that should be asked when undertaking a social-impact analysis of a proposed aid activity, including questions around issues of participation.

As the wars in Central America have subsided, the region is undergoing extensive and far-reaching changes in its economies, and in the role of the State, in particular in the growth of the maquila (assembly plant) industry, and the reduction of the public sector. However, poverty has increased, and has been associated with high levels of violence and delinquency, as well as with a decline in food security. The challenge facing the social forces within the region, as well as NGOs such as Oxfam, is to develop a self-sustaining alternative, while also responding to the needs of the present.