NGO’s Experience with the Practice of Participatory Development the Case of CARE - Ethiopia Borana Pastoral Water Development Initiatives

Ayanu, Abraham Firew (2002) NGO’s Experience with the Practice of Participatory Development the Case of CARE - Ethiopia Borana Pastoral Water Development Initiatives. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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Abstract

Following the empirical lessons gained from the government-led pastoral development initiatives of the 1970’s and 1980’s, “participatory development approach has emerged as a panacea in the development of the third world in general and pastoral societies, in particular. Concurrently, the NGO sector claiming more suited for delivering enduring and equitable development has engaged in the development issue of the pastoral societies. But very little was known about their method of operationaliztion of the participatory approach in the felid and their capacity to make sensible difference on the livelihood of the community in whose name resources are pledged. This thesis was aimed at exploring the experience of NGO with the practice of “participatory development” approach and to assess the capacity of their development projects to deliver enduring positive changes on the livelihood of the pastoral societies through case study of CAREEthiopia Borana zone, Dire woreda pastoral water supplies development initiatives CAREEthiopia was one of the leading international NGOs working with Borana since 1985, both emergency relief operation based water development projects, including water tankering as an emergency relief item, and none-relief pastoral water supply development with Borana. An assessment of the practice of CARE-Ethiopia pastoral development initiatives in the study area showed that, the very concept of ‘‘participatory development’’ message has never been understood uniformly among the executives both at the head office and the APO, and the senior staff entrusted with on the filed implementation of development projects. The institutional set up employed by NGO was unable to exercise demand responsive management because of the confusion arising from the ambivalence in pursuing both relief and development objectives at one and the same time, and the inability to restrict the scope of its operation area to the limits of its own institutional competence and preparedness. The methods for the operationaliztion of “participatory development” approach employed by CARE were, incompatible with the features of NGO’s participatory projects known in theory. The various pastoral water supply development projects were envisaged in the absence of participation by the community. The planning activity of the pastoral water supply development projects were also undertaken by CARE-Ethiopia’s own insights and experience of local community needs and priorities. Thus, participation of the people in the pastoral water supply development process was limited to labor and material contribution. As a result of this, the pastoral water supply schemes introduced by CARE-Ethiopia were not capable of creating substantial economic benefit to the community of the study area. Therefore, its development intervention has barely impacted on the indigenous means for livelihood and on the capacity of the poor among the study area community to overcome the bondage of low productivity employment, and poverty. The experience of CARE-Ethiopia ‘‘participatory development" with pastoral water supply development among the community of the study for the last 17 years generally show that, the vocal claim made by NGOs on the approach and the rhetoric that ascribes to them the practice of development that is centered on people’s needs and priorities was not supported by the practice of CARE-Ethiopia’s pastoral water supply development initiatives. Therefore, the empirical evidences from the experience of CARE-Ethiopia, implies that, the strategic developmental value ascribed to the NGO sector by current development rhetoric are unfounded and mere exaggerations.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Divisions:	Africana
Depositing User:	Tim Khabala
Date Deposited:	11 Sep 2018 07:51
Last Modified:	11 Sep 2018 07:51
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/5096

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