Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Ethnography of Endogenous Institutional Change in Community-Driven Development

  • Original Article
  • Published:
The European Journal of Development Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Community-Driven Development (CDD) empowers target communities with control over development resources but is criticized for exogenously establishing parallel governance structures that fade away when the intervention ends. Could an unconditional direct transfer to a whole community catalyze endogenous institutional change by creating ‘a distinctive social space’ where actors draw upon modern and traditional discourses in the struggle over resources, institutions, and meanings? In this ethnographic study, we provided a Malian village with $10,000 for a ‘development project’ and used the Actor-Oriented Approach to investigate how the project was socially constructed. The results reveal the local elites (customary authorities) taking early control over the project funds, and countervailing powers (young men and a “righteous” elder) constraining the customary authorities after they had sufficient time to mobilize opposition. Our findings suggest that issuing unconditional direct transfers could enable CDD to positively impact governance outcomes in other West African villages as well.

Résumé

Le Développement Conduit par les Communautés (DCC) permet aux communautés concernées de contrôler les ressources de leur développement. Cette approche est cependant critiquée pour avoir établi de façon exogène des structures de gouvernance parallèles qui disparaissent lorsque l'intervention se termine. Un transfert direct inconditionnel à une communauté dans sa totalité pourrait-il catalyser un changement institutionnel endogène en créant « un espace social distinctif » où les acteurs s'appuient sur les discours modernes et traditionnels dans la lutte pour les ressources, les institutions et les significations ? Dans cette étude ethnographique, nous avons fourni à un village malien 10 000 dollars pour un « projet de développement » et avons utilisé l'approche axée sur les acteurs pour étudier la façon dont le projet a été socialement construit. Les résultats révèlent que les élites locales (autorités coutumières) ont très tôt pris le contrôle des fonds du projet, et qu’un contre-pouvoir (de jeunes hommes et une personne âgée souhaitant faire ce qui est « juste ») a pu faire pression sur les autorités coutumières, après avoir eu suffisamment de temps pour mobiliser l'opposition. Nos résultats suggèrent que l'envoi de transferts directs inconditionnels pourrait également permettre au DCC d'avoir un impact positif en matière de gouvernance dans d'autres villages d'Afrique de l'Ouest.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Image 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. All the names have been changed to protect the participants’ identity.

  2. Tinyetigi is not a nickname or a formal role. It is the reason people give for Ibrahim’s leadership roles.

  3. The Bambara French dictionary defines ka nogo as easy or suitable. Ibrahim reported the chief meant both easy and suitable, “because we put those together to mean one thing.” However, the chief reported in a follow-up interview that he meant ka nogo as easy.

References

  • Agarwal, B. 2001. Participatory exclusions, community forestry, and gender: An analysis for south Asia and a conceptual framework. World Development 29 (10): 1623–1648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, B. 2019. Community-driven development: A field perspective on possibilities and limitations. Crawford School of Public Policy, Working Paper #82.

  • Araujo, M.C., et al. 2008. Local inequality and project choice: Theory and evidence from Ecuador. Journal of Public Economics 92 (5–6): 1022–1046.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arcand, J.-L., and N. Wagner. 2016. Does community-driven development improve inclusiveness in peasant organizations? – Evidence from Senegal. World Development 78: 105–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arce, A., and N. Long. 2000. Reconfiguring modernity and development from an anthropological perspective. In Anthropology, development and modernities, exploring discourses, counter-tendencies and violence, ed. M. Green. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnall, A., et al. 2013. NGOs, elite capture and community-driven development: Perspectives in rural Mozambique. The Journal of Modern African Studies 51 (2): 305–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baird, S., C. McIntosh, and B. Özler. 2013. The regressive demands of demand-driven development. Journal of Public Economics 106: 27–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banuri, T. 1990. Development and the politics of knowledge: A critical interpretation of the social role of modernization theories in the development of the Third World. In Dominating knowledge: Development, culture, and resistance, ed. F.A. Marglin and S.A. Marglin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bardhan, P., and D. Mookherjee. 2005. Decentralization, corruption and government accountability: An overview, In Handbook of economic corruption.

  • Bardhan, P., and D. Mookherjee. 2004. Poverty alleviation effort of west Bengal panchayats. Economic and Political Weekly 39 (9): 965–974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, L.C. 1990. The collapse of the family farm in west Africa? Evidence from Mali. The Geographical Journal 156 (3): 313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, L. 1996. Access to labor in rural Mali. Human Organization 55 (3): 279–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernard, T., et al. 2008. Do village organizations make a difference in African rural development? A study for Senegal and Burkina Faso. World Development 36 (11): 2188–2204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, S. 1993. No condition is permanent: The social dynamics of agrarian change in sub-Saharan Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulte, E., P. Richards, and M. Voors. 2018. Institutions and Agrarian development: A new approach to west Africa. Cham: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Casey, K. 2018. Radical decentralization: Does community-driven development work? Annual Review of Economics 10 (1): 139–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casey, K. 2011. The GoBifo Project Evaluation Report: Assessing the Impacts of Community Driven Development in Sierra Leone. 3ie Series Report.

  • Classen, L., et al. 2008. Opening participatory spaces for the most marginal: Learning from collective action in the Honduran hillsides. World Development 36 (11): 2402–2420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta, A., and V.A. Beard. 2007. Community driven development, collective action and elite capture in Indonesia. Development and Change 38 (2): 229–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deubel, T. 2017. Gender, markets and women’s empowerment in the Sahel region: A comparative analysis of Mali, Niger, and Chad. VAM Gender and Markets Study #4. WFP and USAID.

  • Dongier, P., et al. 2003. Community-driven development. In A sourcebook for poverty reduction strategies, ed. D.C. Washington, 301–331. Washington DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duchoslav, J. 2013. Limiting elite capture in community driven development: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Sierra Leone. Wageningen: Wageningen University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dufhues, T., I. Theesfeld, and G. Buchenrieder. 2015. The political economy of decentralization in Thailand: How past and present decentralization affects rural actors participation. The European Journal of Development Research 27 (5): 793–810.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Everatt, D., and L. Gwagwa. 2005. Community driven development in South Africa, 1990–2004. Africa Region working paper, series No. 92. World Bank.

  • Ferme, M.C. 1998. The violence of numbers : Consensus, competition, and the negotiation of disputes in Sierra Leone. Cahiers D’études Africaines 38 (150): 555–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J. 2020. Contested terrain: International development projects and countervailing power for the excluded. World Development 132: 104978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritzen, S.A. 2007. Can the design of community-driven development reduce the risk of elite capture? Evidence from Indonesia. World Development 35 (8): 1359–1375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galasso, E., and M. Ravallion. 2005. Decentralized targeting of an antipoverty program. Journal of Public Economics 89 (4): 705–727.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guijt, I., and M.K. Shah, eds. 1998. The myth of community: Gender issues in participatory development. Rugby: Practical Action Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagberg, S., and B. Koné. 2019. Diaspora-driven development and dispute: Home-area associations and municipal politics in Mali. Swedish Journal of Anthropology 2 (12): 81–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, N., et al. 2005. The effectiveness of World Bank support for community-based and -driven development: An OED evaluation. Washington DC: The World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, N. 2003. Community-driven development: Lessons from the Sahel, an analytical review. World Bank, OED Working Papers.

  • Lawson, B.S. 2011. Developing stability: Community-driven development and reconstruction in conflict-affected settings. Santa Monica: Pardee RAND Graduate School.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, Y., and E. Guba. 1985. Establishing trustworthiness. In Naturalistic inquiry, ed. Y.S. Lincoln and E.G. Guba. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Long, N. 1984. A perspective on the sociology of development. Sociologia Ruralis 24 (3–4): 168–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long, N. 2003. Development sociology: Actor perspectives. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Long, N., and A. Long. 1992. Battlefields of knowledge: The interlocking of theory and practice in social research and development. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, N. 2004. Actors, interfaces, and development intervention: Meanings, purposes and powers. In Development intervention: Actor and activity perspectives. Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research and Institute for Development Studies, University of Helsinki.

  • Lund, C., and T.A. Benjaminsen. 2001. Politics, property, and production in the West African Sahel: Understanding natural resources management. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund, J.F., and M. Saito-Jensen. 2013. Revisiting the issue of elite capture of participatory initiatives. World Development 46: 104–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magumula, B. 2006. A review of community-driven development and its application to the Asian Development Bank. Mandaluyong: Asian Development Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manor, J. 1999. The political economy of democratic decentralization. Washington DC: The World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mansuri, G., and V. Rao. 2003. Evaluating community-based and community-driven development: A critical review of the evidence, Development Research Group. Washington DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansuri, G., and V. Rao. 2013. Localizing development: Does participation work? Washington DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLoughlin, C., T. Hiriasia, and D. Hudson. 2022. Inclusive development in Solomon Islands: Unlocking the potential of development leadership. The Developmental Leadership Program.

  • Murphy, W. 1990. Creating the appearance of consensus in mende political discourse. American Anthropologist 92 (1): 24–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olabode, S. 2016. Veterans of diaspora activism: An overview of ICT uses amongst Nigerian migrant networks. In The digital transformation of the public sphere, ed. A. Karatzogianni, D. Nguyen, and E. Serafinelli. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pan, L., and L. Christiaensen. 2012. Who is vouching for the input voucher? Decentralized targeting and elite capture in Tanzania. World Development 40 (8): 1619–1633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitcher, A., M.H. Moran, and M. Johnston. 2009. Rethinking patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism in Africa. African Studies Review 52 (1): 125–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Platteau, J.-P. 2004. Monitoring elite capture in community-driven development. Development and Change 35 (2): 223–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Platteau, J.-P., and A. Abraham. 2002. Participatory development in the presence of endogenous community imperfections. Journal of Development Studies 39 (2): 104–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigon, A. 2014. Building local governance: Participation and elite capture in slum-upgrading in Kenya: Participation and elite capture in Kenya. Development and Change 45 (2): 257–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saguin, K. 2018. Why the poor do not benefit from community-driven development: Lessons from participatory budgeting. World Development 112: 220–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, J. 1985. Weapons of the weak: Everyday forms of peasant resistance. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Titifanue, J., et al. 2017. Climate change advocacy in the Pacific: The role of information and communication technologies. Pacific Journalism Review 23 (1): 133.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, H., R. Menon, H. Waddington. 2018. Community-driven development: Does it build social cohesion or infrastructure? A mixed-method evidence synthesis’. 3ie Working Paper 30.

  • Wong, S. 2010. Elite capture or capture elites? Lessons from the “Counter-elite” and “Co-opt-elite” Approaches in Bangladesh and Ghana. WIDER Working Paper, No. 2010/82.

  • Wong, S. 2012. What have been the impacts of World Bank community-driven development programs? The World Bank Social Development Department Sustainable Development Network.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University and Research, PO Box 8130, 6700EW, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Peter Shapland, Conny J. M. Almekinders, Annemarie van Paassen & Cees Leeuwis

Authors
  1. Peter Shapland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Conny J. M. Almekinders
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Annemarie van Paassen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cees Leeuwis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Shapland.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shapland, P., Almekinders, C.J.M., van Paassen, A. et al. An Ethnography of Endogenous Institutional Change in Community-Driven Development. Eur J Dev Res 35, 1465–1483 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-023-00589-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-023-00589-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation