NGOs, Management and Development: Harnessing Counter-Hegemonic Possibilities

Abstract

Over the last decade, development management thinking, tools and practices have gained a prominent position in international development. In response to recent calls to problematize development management, this article, drawing on 14 months of empirical work with a Ugandan NGO, illuminates the spread of managerialism in the indigenous NGO sector and explores whether and how management thinking and practice have shaped the work and the role of NGOs in international development. This research shows how development management orthodoxy narrows the possibility for NGOs to engage in transformative practice and in social change agendas, while it wittingly or unwittingly supports the expansion of the political and cultural hegemony of western donors.