Rolling back the African State : implications for social development in Ghana
By: LAIRD, Siobahn E
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ArticlePublisher: Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishers, October 2007Social Policy & Administration 41, 5, p. 465-486Abstract: The New Policy Agenda of the Reagan and Thatcher years has profoundly influenced aid flows from the industrialized countries of North America and Western Europe to the developing nations of sub-Saharan Africa. The application of neo-liberal principles to the disbursement of multilateral and bilateral aid for social development has resulted in the diversion of donor funding away from the public sector towards non-governmental organizations. The consequences of relegating the role of the public sector in social development is explored through qualitative research conducted in Ghana with state-employed community development workers. The study exposes how severe financial constraint within the state sector distorts the targeting of beneficiaries and social development activity. This differs from findings revealed by interviews with social development workers employed by international non-governmental organizations. These indicate that such agencies are able to sustain effectively resourced fieldworkers who are in a position to form positive working relationships with beneficiaries. The circumstances of the Department of Community Development and its relationships with non-governmental agencies in Ghana are used to explore the effects on state-building of the New Policy Agenda in the sub-Saharan region
The New Policy Agenda of the Reagan and Thatcher years has profoundly influenced aid flows from the industrialized countries of North America and Western Europe to the developing nations of sub-Saharan Africa. The application of neo-liberal principles to the disbursement of multilateral and bilateral aid for social development has resulted in the diversion of donor funding away from the public sector towards non-governmental organizations. The consequences of relegating the role of the public sector in social development is explored through qualitative research conducted in Ghana with state-employed community development workers. The study exposes how severe financial constraint within the state sector distorts the targeting of beneficiaries and social development activity. This differs from findings revealed by interviews with social development workers employed by international non-governmental organizations. These indicate that such agencies are able to sustain effectively resourced fieldworkers who are in a position to form positive working relationships with beneficiaries. The circumstances of the Department of Community Development and its relationships with non-governmental agencies in Ghana are used to explore the effects on state-building of the New Policy Agenda in the sub-Saharan region
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