Those who bridge the gaps : brokers and translators within development practices in Nepal

Abstract

Since the outburst of James Ferguson on the development policy in Lesotho in 1994 - the starting point of the post-development school of thought, the imposition of Western development models on Third World countries has been heavily criticized by post development

thinkers. The purposes of what is called “development” are in serious doubt. “What do aid programmes do besides fail to help poor people?” (Ferguson, 1994: 180). Post-developmentalists, however, did not stop at castigating the reality they have witnessed on the ground; they also proposed solutions. They advocate for alternatives to development as a new development paradigm rather than alternative development (Escobar, 2000). As the concept of “alternat ives to development” is still under construction, my argument is that the role of those whom David Mosse calls the “development brokers and translators” (Mosse and Lewis, 2006) is the most crucial when considering this new development paradigm. The work of constant translat ion “of policy goals into practical interests, practical interests back into policy goals” is devotedly and wisely conducted by the “skilled brokers” (projects managers, local staff, field workers etc.) who “read the meaning of policies in different inst itutional languages” (Mosse, 2005: 9). While Mosse and other post-development thinkers focus on the policies translation process at the grass-root level which is considered the most important transition during the implementation of development projects, the brokerage is also occurring at other levels as well. In the thesis, using actor-oriented approach coined by Norman Long, I examine development intervent ion projects’ documents and pract ices to see the translation and brokerage from national level through the grass-root level in Nepal. The results show that brokerage does occur in many encounters in various interfaces of development intervention. Moreover, the context has a great impact on the conduct of brokerage due to the complexity of Nepali societ y as well. This thesis is an effort to bring “development brokers and translators” to the attention of the post-development scholars. Once they are recognized, hopefully their role will be more seriously investigated and theorized during the construction of “alternat ives to development”. If “alternat ives to development” were to become the new development paradigm, these “brokers and translators” had to be recognized as the driving force.