Aid as an encounter at the interface: the complexity of the global fight against poverty

• Published in: Third world quarterly Vol. 25; no. 5; pp. 871 - 885
• Main Authors: De Herdt, Tom, Bastiaensen, Johan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Taylor and Francis Ltd 01-07-2004; Carfax Publishing; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Ambiguity; Antipoverty Programs; Consciousness; Developing Countries; Development aid; Development Strategies; Development theory; Economic aid; Economic development; Famine; Foreign Aid; Global Local Relationship; Interventionism; LDCs; Lifeworld; Nongovernmental organizations; Participation; Political discourse; Political Power; Politics; Poverty; Public policy; Social interaction; Third World; World Bank
• ISSN: 0143-6597; 1360-2241
• DOI: 10.1080/0143659042000231992

International development discourse has recently shifted its focus from top-down economic adjustment to participative anti-poverty policy. This shift hints at an acknowledgement of the local complexities within the poverty process and at a need to listen to and develop actions with the 'poor'. But, whereas the mainstream argument remains couched in a technical framework, we argue that the fight against poverty is inevitably political. Conceptualising the aid industry as a set of global-local interfaces, it follows that a closer look at 'participation' in anti-poverty interventions is needed to come to grips with the political issues involved. Four issues are discussed: the complexity of local 'participation', given the 'polycephalous' character of third world societies; the power biases in the aid chain; the potential problem of 'false consciousness'; and the ambiguities of the role of local development brokers. We conclude that anti-poverty policy is in need of 'interface experts', who, through 'provocation' can beget 'participation'.