Twinning and development: a genealogy of depoliticisation

Abstract

One of the latest methods being trialled across the development sector to help advance progress towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is ‘twinning’. In this equation, twinning is rendered as a broadly replicable methodology for improving development outcomes, with a particular emphasis on building up human resources and technical capacity within governments and national bureaucracies. It is time-bound, target driven and depoliticised. However, the relationship between twinning and development has not always looked this way. Our paper uses a genealogical approach to unpack and illuminate the historical circumstances and politico-economic conditions under which these discourses have previously converged. It documents the gradual historical trajectory of the phenomenon of twinning from an overt political act to a largely apolitical tool of development practitioners. In so doing, it denaturalises the status quo and prompts reflection on alternative pathways, politics and practices of development.