Agency & Development - Do Individuals Matter?

Child sponsorship pre-dates the development decades, and the era of community development. As such, it appears as an anachronism to the dominant collective discourse of contemporary development, yet remains remarkably resilient as a development and fundraising modality. PlanetWorka traces the evolution of child sponsorship in a well-known International NGO to demonstrate how it has effectively transitioned and legitimised INGOs as development actors.

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In an attempt to resolve the contradictions inherent in the 'developer's' role, development ideology promotes reflexivity in practice. In a context of developmentalism, does it matter? As they become more aware of their role can development practitioners adapt in a manner that is meaningful?

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International NGOs employ a range of development staff, stratified carefully between operations and 'program' in country offices. Within the 'program' staff, expertise is differentiated bewteen professional at the national head office and local development facilitators. Moreover, most international NGOs rely heavily on 'community volunteers' - unpaid local residents who play a crucial role in operational activity and norms transfer.

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Professionalisation has brought a powerful dynamic into the world of the development practitioner, creating an epistemic divide between the transnational 'expert' and the 'local' development practitioner. The former elevated to a powerful role, the latter constrained by their positionality and characteristics of the 'other'.

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Contemporary development practice invovles the implementation of highly technical project planning and implementation approaches. Rather than enhancing development outcomes, these represent technologies of control. Implemented as part of a culture of managerialism, these approaches ensure that the 'expert' is able to assert control over both the local development facilitator and community participants.

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Is the development practitioners role to 'deliver' development, or impose development discourse? Development practitioners are important interlocutors for translating developmentalism into localised norms, calling into question the ethical virtue of their work.

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If development practice is where developmentalism is cemented, then the development practioner must be the labourer that applies this. Who are these 'practitioners'? In this episode PlanetWorka explores the positionality of the development worker in development, and identifies a growing divide between the global development professional, and the local commuity development worker.

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A powerful gender and identity theorist, Judith Butler has conceptualised human agency as 'performativity'. PlanetWorka examines how this is different from the notion of performance, how performativity refers to the constitution of identity through repeated routines, and how re-signification offers potential for agency.

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Two eminent theorists have shaped our understanding of individual agency in development. Anthony Giddens' theory of Structuration and Michel Foucault's theory of Governmentality are heavy influences on developmentalism. PlanetWorka explores how key ideas in these theories have shaped how individual agency is located in developmentalist discourse.

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How does the concept of individual agency address the tension between the excessive individualism of liberal theory, and the focus of the collective 'community' in development? PlanetWorka explores how social theory has influenced the notion of individual agency in development, and located this centrally in normative expectations of collective social action and benefit.

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