Attributions and paradoxes of agency in socially sustainable development : perspectives from small-scale NGOs in Jinja, Uganda

Abstract

During the past decades, sustainable development has become an important phenomenon in the global development discourse. The concept has been widely used by both large international bodies such as the United Nations as well as small grassroots organization. In the beginning, the interest was mainly in questions of environmental and ecological aspects of the concept but especially since the introduction of the Human Development Approach the importance of social and cultural aspects of sustainable development became more important. In the discussions on Human Development and sustainable development, the people are in the center of the discussion. Both concepts emphasize the importance of agency, both for individuals and for communities.

This research examines how agency is conceptualized in the discourses of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) aiming towards sustainable development in Jinja area, Uganda. Overall, this research aims at contributing to the discussion around socially sustainable development because of its increasing importance in the planning, evaluation and funding of development projects and programs worldwide. The goal of this research is to understand how the NGOs attribute agency to different actors in their development interventions. In addition, this research examines the paradoxes that the NGOs manifest in regard to agency in their processes aiming towards socially sustainable development.

The main research data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Altogether nine Ugandan NGO actors working in five different small-scale NGOs were interviewed. All the NGOs had ‘sustainable development’ in their values or visions for the future and ‘sustainable development’ was many times mentioned on the NGOs’ web pages, office walls, or project plans. The research revealed that agency was mainly attributed to four different groups of actors: individual NGO activists, local volunteers, local leaders and community members. In addition, agency was attributed to the NGOs. The research also revealed paradoxes in relation to power, knowledge and information sharing, trust and networks and money. Interestingly, the agencies of different actors were found to intertwine with each other in the processes of sustainable development in a way that resulted in enablement and disablement of the agencies of different actors in different situations.