Mobility, Mobilization or Negotiation: NGO Discourses in Poverty Reduction

Abstract

"Perspectives on the role of NGOs in development and poverty reduction have been changing along with the shifting architecture of global aid and development since the last decade or so. In the post Washington consensus era, official sources have seen NGOs as service-deliverers that could stop-gap state failures especially in the field of education and health care. On the other hand there is a counter view that NGOs should be located in a critical space engaging governments on behalf of their constituencies. Furthermore in the post 9/11 scenario, aid has been securitized so that poverty reduction is now often linked to the war against terrorism. In this backdrop how do NGOs perceive their programs on poverty reduction? I intend to review some of the ways in which European NGOs respond to the various discourses on poverty at the global, national and local level with a specific focus on some of these strategic issues and discursive practices." (author's abstract)