TY - JOUR

T1 - Of texts and practices

T2 - Empowerment and organisational cultures in world bank-funded rural development programmes

AU - Bebbington, Anthony J.

AU - Lewis, David

AU - Batterbury, Simon

AU - Olson, Elizabeth

AU - Siddiqi, M. Shameem

N1 - doi: 10.1080/00220380701259665

PY - 2007/5/1

Y1 - 2007/5/1

N2 - Abstract The World Bank's recent concern for 'empowerment' grows out of longer standing discussions of participation, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society. While commitments to empowerment enter World Bank texts with relative ease, their practice within Bank-funded projects is far more contingent, and the meanings they assume become much more diverse. This paper considers the relationship between such texts and the development practices which emerge, using an analysis of the 'organisational cultures' of the Bank and the many organisations on which it depends in the implementation of its rural development programmes. The paper presents a framework for analysing these organisational cultures in terms of (a) the broader contexts in which organisations and their staff are embedded; (b) the everyday practices within organisations; (c) the power relations within and among organisations; and (d) the meanings that come to dominate organisational practice. A case study of a development programme in Bangladesh is used to illustrate the ways in which cultural interactions between a variety of organisations - the World Bank, government agencies, NGOs, organisations of the poor, social enterprises - mediate the ways in which textual commitments to empowerment are translated into a range of diverse practices.

AB - Abstract The World Bank's recent concern for 'empowerment' grows out of longer standing discussions of participation, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society. While commitments to empowerment enter World Bank texts with relative ease, their practice within Bank-funded projects is far more contingent, and the meanings they assume become much more diverse. This paper considers the relationship between such texts and the development practices which emerge, using an analysis of the 'organisational cultures' of the Bank and the many organisations on which it depends in the implementation of its rural development programmes. The paper presents a framework for analysing these organisational cultures in terms of (a) the broader contexts in which organisations and their staff are embedded; (b) the everyday practices within organisations; (c) the power relations within and among organisations; and (d) the meanings that come to dominate organisational practice. A case study of a development programme in Bangladesh is used to illustrate the ways in which cultural interactions between a variety of organisations - the World Bank, government agencies, NGOs, organisations of the poor, social enterprises - mediate the ways in which textual commitments to empowerment are translated into a range of diverse practices.

U2 - 10.1080/00220380701259665

DO - 10.1080/00220380701259665

M3 - Journal article

VL - 43

SP - 597

EP - 621

JO - Journal of Development Studies

JF - Journal of Development Studies

SN - 0022-0388

IS - 4

ER -