Between a Swamp & a Hard Place – Developmental Challenges in Remote Rural Africa (Paper) (Harvard Studies in International Development) - Softcover

Cole, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674068610 ISBN 13: 9780674068612

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1997

Synopsis

In a remote area of Sudan, the Abyei project embodied the idealistic hopes of the new directions for development aid of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Within this optimistic context, Harvard Institute for International Development was invited to assist the leaders of the Ngok Dinka people in developing their homeland. The goal was to discover and implement innovations that would benefit the local population in a sustainable manner. This text traces the project's evolution and analyzes its successes and failures as the region slipped toward civil disorder and inter-ethnic violence. The authors also document the continued relevance of the development principles that animated this effort including strong participation by the intended beneficiaries which are still important for achieving economic growth in rural Africa.

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Review

This book should be required reading for all those involved in development throughout the world, not only in Africa. It is well written and provides a guide to some of the pitfalls that can be expected on any project. Reading it will not eliminate all future failures, but it should allow others to avoid some of the major ones. Finally, the authors are to be commended for providing such a readable, objective account and evaluation of a project near and dear to their hearts. The manuscript provides a standard and a challenge to others recording project histories. Congratulations to David C. Cole and Richard Huntington for taking the time to put these valuable lessons down on paper for all to read.--James J. Riley "Journal of Developing Areas "

Cole and Huntington describe the rise and fall of a 'new directions' development project funded by USAID and implemented by the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) among the Ngok Dinka ethnic group in the community of Abeyi, southern Sudan, from mid-1977 through mid-1981...This forthright account contrasting development rhetoric with the reality of a complex USAID project carried out in a remote and difficult environment will be of great interest to applied social scientists and development practitioners. A reflective afterword is presented by Francis Deng, a Dinka from Abeyi who is both an anthropologist and a UN official.--D. M. Warren "Choice "

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674068610
• ISBN 13: 9780674068612
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 316