Ignorant armies clashing by night

A computer kiosk program for the poor had failed to work because there was completely unreliable electricity and internet connectivity in the places where they were trying to set it up. Yet, the World Bank's 'empowerment sourcebook' recorded it as a successful initiative. A bank official defended the program saying that it had facilitated greater empowerment. How do silent computers lead to greater empowerment?

Empowerment, it is said, is one such word which is used when no other excuses exist. It seems the apex bank is not unduly bothered about the absurdity of its approach, as one study had noted that 'despite the billions of dollars spent on development assistance each year, there is still very little known about the actual impact of projects on the poor'. Not without reason has eminent economist Lant Pritchett phrased the phenomenon as 'ignorant armies clashing by night'.

It is widely acknowledged that a major hurdle in aid effectiveness is lack of mechanisms for efficiency and accountability. While for-profit world has markets and competition towards accountability, foreign aid has been failing and wasting much of its resources because it's not accountable and that the existing evaluations are almost entirely self-evaluations. The book is about using randomization as a technique for assessing effectiveness of developmental projects.

The book, a collection of six authoritative papers followed by two equally scholarly comments on each paper, delves deeper into the enigma called 'development'. However, the debate between thinking big and thinking small remains inconclusive because objective analysis is obstructed by the lengthening list of factors and conditions that makes either of the two types of development achieve some degree of effectiveness, but without impacting poverty significantly.

Some of the world-renowned development analysts have contributed to addressing the crises in fighting global poverty. But what unites them is larger than what divides them. Oscillating between macro development (growth, trade & fiscal policies) and micro development (education, health & social programs), the contributors offer wealth of insights on what policy is likely to work in the future. A scholarly contribution towards making development work, hopefully!....Link

What Works in Development: Thinking Big and Thinking Small
by Jessica Cohen and William Easterly
Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 245 pages, US$16.82

The Good, the Bad and the....

Contested existence notwithstanding, the overwhelming presence of businesses and the inevitable existence of non-governmental organizations have made dramatic inroads into our lives. Love them or hate them, both are here to stay in the pursuit of meeting their ambitious goals. Often working at cross purposes to each other, there exists an opportunity for businesses and NGOs to galvanize collective action for resolving environmental issues around the world though.

Good Cop Bad Cop is a splendid attempt that weaves multi-disciplinary insights for mapping areas for NGOs to engage with businesses. With contributions from sociologists, political scientists and economists, Thomas P. Lyon concludes that it is for the NGOs to understand whether they can effectively play either or both the role of a good cop (corporate partner) and bad cop (corporate critic). This typecast may, however, be discomforting for the NGOs.

It is easy to typecast NGOs because there is little systematic evidence that environmental NGOs are consistently effective. In fact, the authors have used aquatic mammals to categorize an incredible diversity of NGOs and NGO-like activity. Sea lion, Orca, Shark and Dolphin have been identified to reflect the nature of the NGOs. Sea lions are deemed to be very conscious of their funding sources and very unlikely to act contrary to the interests of their funders.

In contrast, sharks symbolize a considerable number of groups within the broader anti-globalization movement who consider violence legitimate against a broad range of targets. On the other hand, orcas carefully select their targets but can be unpredictable and at times confrontational. Dolphins are adaptive, willing to negotiate with businesses to encourage them to change their environmental stands. Will such characterization ease in building collaborations?

Contributors to the volume admit that there are numerous theories that deal with the behavior of economic agents, but none explains NGOs because they are often outside the logic of profitability and traditional politics. The growing recognition that environmental NGOs have moved from the fringes of power to the inside and are now able to exert more influence than ever before has led researchers to develop an understanding on their growing sphere of influence.

Good Cop Bad Cop makes a valuable and timely contribution to the emerging domain of private politics - in which private citizens and institutions aim at changing legislative practices and culture without being part of the electoral process. Using case studies of selected international NGOs, the book takes a critical look at their internal dynamics in making a case for emerging cooperation between NGOs and business for environmental change....Link

Good Cop Bad Cop: Environmental NGOs and their Strategies toward Business
by Thomas P Lyon (Ed) 
RFF Press, Washington/London, 282 pages, US$ 39.95.