University of Bath PHD Perception and practice: Participation, evaluation and aid harmonisation in Ethiopia Williamson, Virginia Award date: 2010 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 07. Oct. 2021 Perception and Practice: Participation, Evaluation and Aid Harmonisation in Ethiopia Virginia Williamson A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Social and Policy Sciences Centre for Development Studies October 2009 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with its author. A copy of this thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by law or with the consent of the author. This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation. CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8 ABSTRACT 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 10 GLOSSARY 13 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 14 1.1 RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH 14 1.2 SUMMARY OF THE THESIS 16 1.3 RESEARCH BOUNDARIES 18 1.4 NARRATIVE AND STRUCTURE 19 1.4.1 Narrative 19 1.4.2 Structure 22 2. AID AND ITS MANAGEMENT 25 2.1 INTRODUCTION 25 2.2 AID AND DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT: CONGRUENT AND COMPETING DISCOURSES 25 2.2.1 Development Management as Normative Project 26 2.2.2 Historical Analysis 29 2.2.3 Development Management as Public Administration 31 2.2.4 Ethnographic Studies of Development Management 33 2.2.5 Critical Management Studies 34 2.2.6 Positioning Within Development Management Discourse 35 2.3 THE NEW AID ARCHITECTURE 38 2.3.1 Introduction 38 2.3.2 Development of the New Aid Architecture 38 2.3.3 The NAA and the Global Political Economy 43 1 2.4 MONITORING AND EVALUATION 44 2.4.1 Monitoring and Evaluation within the NAA 44 2.4.2 Historical Development of Aid Evaluation 45 2.4.3 The Purposes of Evaluation 46 2.4.4 Critical Approaches to the Concept of Evaluation 49 2.4.5 Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation 50 2.5 CHANGING NORMS OF PARTICIPATION 51 2.5.1 Introduction 51 2.5.2 The Role of Participation in the NAA 52 2.5.3 Indigenous Forms of Participation 54 2.5.4 The ‘Professional’ in Participation Discourse 56 2.5.5 Participatory Space, Transaction and Power 61 3. METHODOLOGY 64 3.1 INTRODUCTION 64 3.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH AND ITS ORIENTATION 65 3.2.1 Research Objective 65 3.2.2 Research Question 67 3.2.3 Formative Experience Influencing the Research Methodology 68 3.3 SOCIAL ACTOR ORIENTATION: SOCIAL AND KNOWLEDGE INTERFACES 70 3.3.1 The Social Actor 70 3.3.2 Applying a Social Actor Perspective to Complimentary Literatures 76 3.4 TRANSACTION, MOTIVATION AND INFORMATION EXCHANGE 78 3.4.1 Information Asymmetry in Explaining Aid Relationships 78 3.4.2 Analysing Trust and Motivation in Aid Relationships 79 3.4.3 Geopolitics, Information Asymmetry and Polity 80 3.4.4 Shared Mental Models 82 3.5 CULTURAL ANALYSIS AND MENTAL MODELS 86 3.5.1 Cross-Cultural Research, Epistemology and Ontological Discussion 86 3.5.2 Selected Foci in Cross-Cultural Research 91 3.6 RESEARCH METHODS AND FIELDWORK 95 3.6.1 Ethnography of Aid 96 3.6.2 Research Methods 98 3.6.3 Ethics 100 2 3.6.4 Country Selection 102 3.6.5 Research Relationship with Addis Ababa University 102 3.6.6 Selection of Donors 103 3.6.7 Negotiating Access 103 3.6.8 Logistical Constraints 106 3.6.9 Pattern of Fieldwork: numerical data on interviews 107 4. ETHIOPIA: HISTORY, GEOPOLITICS AND AID RELATIONS 109 4.1 INTRODUCTION 109 4.2 THE ROLE OF HISTORY AND GEOPOLITICS 110 4.2.1 Ethiopian History and Identity 110 4.2.2 Religion, Socio-Economy, Ethnicity 113 4.2.3 Political Systems 118 4.2.4 Geopolitical Context within the Horn of Africa 123 4.3 AID RELATIONS 126 4.3.1 History and Pattern of Foreign Aid 126 4.3.2 Donors: Canada 129 4.3.3 Donors: Ireland 133 4.3.4 Donors: Sweden 136 4.3.5 The Framework for NAA Adoption 141 4.3.6 The 2005 General Election and Aid Relations 145 4.3.7 Key Issues for Aid Relations 146 5. ETHIOPIA: CULTURE AND LOCAL INSTITUTIONS 148 5.1 INTRODUCTION 148 5.2 KEY ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL DISCOURSE 149 5.2.1 Synthesising National and International Literatures 149 5.2.2 Recurring Themes: Dualism, Continuity, Synchronicity 151 5.3 RELIGION 153 5.3.1 Orthodox Religious Practice 153 5.3.2 Religious Syncretism 154 5.4 CONCEPTS OF LEADERSHIP AND COMPETITION 155 5.4.1 Traditional Conceptions of Leadership 155 5.4.2 Continuity of Governance Patterns 157 5.4.3 Opposition, Legitimacy and Conflict Resolution 157 3 5.5 COMMUNICATION AND ORAL SKILLS 159 5.5.1 Oratory 159 5.5.2 Reticence 161 5.5.3 Discussion in Decision-Making 162 5.6 GOVERNMENT-COMMUNITY STRUCTURES 163 5.6.1 State-Civil Society Relations: National NGOs 163 5.6.2 State-Civil Society Relations: Community-Level Mechanisms 165 5.6.3 Mobilisation for Participation 167 5.7 COMMUNITY STRUCTURES AND INSTITUTIONS 167 5.7.1 Reciprocal Labour-Sharing 168 5.7.2 Religious Associations 168 5.7.3 Non-Religious Associations 169 5.7.4 External Perceptions of Ethiopian Associational Structures 170 5.8 MORES OF PARTICIPATION 171 5.8.1 Individualism and Collectivism 171 5.8.2 Mutuality, Reciprocity and Trust 173 5.9 EVALUATIVE MECHANISMS 174 5.9.1 Informal Evaluative Mechanisms 174 5.9.2 Formal Evaluative Mechanisms 175 5.10 LOCAL v. INTERNATIONAL CONCEPTS OF PARTICIATION AND EVALUATION 176 6. PARTICIPATION AND EVALUATION IN GOVERNMENT-COMMUNITY RELATIONS IN NORTHERN ETHIOPIA 179 6.1 INTRODUCTION 179 6.2 RESPONDENTS 180 6.2.1 The Government/Community Nexus 180 6.2.2 Female Heads of Household 182 6.2.3 Priests 183 6.2.4 Farmers 184 6.2.5 Local Leaders 185 6.2.6 Young Professionals 187 6.2.7 Older Government Officials 190 6.3 PERCEPTION AND PRACTICE OF PARTICIPATION 192 6.3.1 Introduction 192 6.3.2 Participation as “Contribution of Labour” 193 4 6.3.3 Participation as “Involvement in Community Meetings” 199 6.3.4 Bridging Conceptions of Participation 207 6.4 MONITORING AND EVALUATION 210 6.4.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection 210 6.4.2 Evaluation in Rural Development 214 6.4.3 Reflection on Ethiopian and Donor Concepts of Evaluation 220 6.5 CONGRUENCE, AMBIGUITY AND DISJUNCTURE: RECIPIENT CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON 221 6.5.1 Introduction 221 6.5.2 Comparative Analysis: Ethiopia, Tanzania and Vietnam 221 6.5.3 Information-Sharing: Congruence, Disjuncture and Ambiguity 225 7. PARTICIPATION AND EVALUATION IN DONORS’ EXPERIENCE IN ETHIOPIA 229 7.1 INTRODUCTION 229 7.2 DEVELOPMENT VALUES, PARTICIPATION AND EVALUATION: DOCUMENTARY REVIEW 230 7.2.1 Development Values 230 7.2.2 Concepts of Participation and Agency 234 7.2.3 Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation 239 7.2.4 Indications for Harmonisation and Alignment 241 7.3 FINDINGS FROM DONOR INTERVIEWS 242 7.3.1 Introduction 242 7.3.2 Aid, Politics and Development 243 7.3.3 Understanding the Local Context 248 7.3.4 Participation 254 7.3.5 Evaluation 262 7.4 SHARED MENTAL MODELS 273 7.4.1 Actors’ Agency 273 7.4.2 The Arena for Sharing Mental Models 275 7.4.3 Polity, Information and Mental Models 276 7.4.4 Congruence, Disjuncture and Ambiguity 279 8. REFLECTION ON THE ROLE OF MENTAL MODELS IN DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT 289 8.1 OVERVIEW 289 8.2 ‘LESSONS LEARNT’ FROM THE RESEARCH 293 5 8.2.1 Consensus, Heterogeneity and Confusion 293 8.3 AGENCY AND INFLUENCE IN POLICY FORMULATION 297 8.3.1 Agency in Development Agencies 297 8.3.2 Knowledge from ‘The Field’ 301 8.3.3 Shift From Technical to Political Imperatives 304 8.4 IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT 305 8.4.1 Development Management Discourse 305 8.4.2 Development Management and Ideology 307 8.4.3 Development Management and Cross-Cultural Discourse 309 8.4.4 A Schema for Normative Development Management 310 ANNEXES A. Summary of WIDE Analysis 313 B. Semi-Structured Interview Schedule 322 C. Maps 325 BIBLIOGRAPHY 326 6 FIGURES Figure 1.1 Diagrammatic Illustration of the Literature Review 23 Figure 2.1 Discourses in Development Management 26 Figure 3.1 Linked Literatures 65 Figure 3.2 Consensus, Information and Polity, adapted from Waterman and Meier (1998: 188).