This book questions many key assumptions about the efficacy of NGOs and civil society in development. It provides suggestions on how to improve NGO performance and how NGOs can better link with local African initiatives and agendas. Beginning in the 1980s, sub-Saharan Africa witnessed a veritable explosion of NGOs and CSOs engaged in efforts to develop the subcontinent. Often praised for their commitment, flexibility, close contact with grassroots movements and marginalized groups, these organizations have become the darlings of donors and the UN system. During the same period, however, rural Africa has sunk deeper into poverty. The massive NGO engagement appears not to have made any meaningful progress. "Snakes in Paradise" breaks through the generalizations and neat theories to discover why these efforts have failed. Focusing especially on those local NGOs that are frequently overlooked by studies that cover the major international players, Holmen uncovers a NGO landscape that is considerably more ambiguous than the popular development literature would have people believe.
Pt. I Introduction
1 Development and Peasants' Associations in Sub-Saharan Africa 3
An African Dilemma 3
Organizations and Development 13
Organization Building from Below - When, Where, and Why? 31
Pt. II The Eastern and Southern African Experience
2 The ESA Experience - Part 1 49
The World They're In 49
Public Decentralization, Development, and Collective Action 62
3 The ESA Experience - Part 2 85
NGOs and Peasants' Associations in ESA 85
Preliminary Assessment 104
Pt. III The West African Experience
4 Decentralization and Organizations in West Africa 113
Mali 116
Senegal 117
Burkina Faso 120
Benin 123
Cote d'Ivoire 125
Ghana 126
Nigeria 127
5 Farmers' Associations in West Africa 133
Cooperatives, Producers' Organizations, and Farmers' Associations 133
Regional Cooperation 160
6 Interpreting the West African Experience 165
Success Stories 165
Why the Successes? 166
Possible Success Stories 169
Geography and Associations 174
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