Of texts and practices:Empowerment and organisational cultures in world bank-funded rural development programmes

Bebbington, Anthony J. and Lewis, David and Batterbury, Simon and Olson, Elizabeth and Siddiqi, M. Shameem (2007) Of texts and practices:Empowerment and organisational cultures in world bank-funded rural development programmes. Journal of Development Studies, 43 (4). pp. 597-621. ISSN 0022-0388

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Abstract

Abstract The World Bank's recent concern for 'empowerment' grows out of longer standing discussions of participation, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society. While commitments to empowerment enter World Bank texts with relative ease, their practice within Bank-funded projects is far more contingent, and the meanings they assume become much more diverse. This paper considers the relationship between such texts and the development practices which emerge, using an analysis of the 'organisational cultures' of the Bank and the many organisations on which it depends in the implementation of its rural development programmes. The paper presents a framework for analysing these organisational cultures in terms of (a) the broader contexts in which organisations and their staff are embedded; (b) the everyday practices within organisations; (c) the power relations within and among organisations; and (d) the meanings that come to dominate organisational practice. A case study of a development programme in Bangladesh is used to illustrate the ways in which cultural interactions between a variety of organisations - the World Bank, government agencies, NGOs, organisations of the poor, social enterprises - mediate the ways in which textual commitments to empowerment are translated into a range of diverse practices.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Development Studies
Additional Information:
doi: 10.1080/00220380701259665
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3303
Subjects:
?? DEVELOPMENT ??
ID Code:
130696
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
22 Jan 2019 14:50
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Oct 2023 10:24