International development and cooperation is a professionlike diplomacy and defense. Practitioners all need skills in project design, negotiating, compliance, M&E, and building multi stakeholder alliances. Hats off to Professors Keilson and Gubser for creating a practical set of case studies, live from the real world.
William Reese, CEO of International Youth Foundation, USA
This highly-readable contribution to the development literature eloquently captures what we field practitioners know to be true: that achieving project impact involves dedication to many bureaucratic tasks and distractions that often hinder our ability to serve the beneficiaries of development interventions. The essays in this volume are written by real field professionals who understand, and have lived with and overcome, these challenges.
Lee Rosner, USAID
The Practice of International Development is a wonderful resource book to learn the challenges and opportunities that donors, implementing organizations, and governments face when trying to implement successful international development.
Byron Radcliffe, Radcliffe Global Solutions, USA
The Practice of International Development
Development analysts tend to give short shrift to the seemingly minor bureaucratic hitches faced by practitionersthose who design, manage, implement, and evaluate aid projects. Often critical of foreign aid either for its apparent ineffectiveness at alleviating poverty or its purported neocolonial implications, the academic literature rarely acknowledges the experiences and pressures faced by practitioners themselves as they implement aid-funded development projectsthe meetings, paperwork, negotiations, site visits, financial transactions, logistical arrangements, interviews, program activities, and beneficiary interactionsthat keep projects running. And yet the impact of aid projects, and indeed the impact of development itself, often grows out of the daily activities and personal interactions of development practitioners. This unique book considers challenges from the perspective of development practitioners who confront technical, managerial, political, theoretical, and moral quandaries on a daily basis.
With chapters written by expert practitioners on different aspects of design and management of international development activities, this book examines real issues and navigates the often contradictory demands of local development needs, including international donor imperatives; limited financial resources, time, information, and assurance of results; the competing pulls of administrative efficiency; and the desire to alleviate suffering. It also gives readers access to the crucial but little-heard voices of those who spend their professional lives designing and managing foreign aid projects, offering insight into what did or did not work on projects they have managed, implemented, or evaluated. These insights do not seek to identify universally right or wrong ways of doing development; instead, they highlight pros and cons associated with various approaches and decisions. This book provides valuable insights for students and others interested in a development career, encourages practitioners to engage in reflection, and persuades researchers to further consider the influence of practice on project success or failure.
Jerrold Keilson currently serves as AIR Vice President, International Policy, Practice, and Systems Change, and is Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Affairs, American University, USA.
Michael Gubser is Professor of History at James Madison University in Virginia, USA and an aid practitioner with experience in project evaluation and project design. His most recent book is The Far Reaches: Phenomenology, Ethics, and Social Renewal in Central Europe (2014).
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY
A Comprehensive Publication Program
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
DAVID H. ROSENBLOOM
Distinguished Professor of Public Administration
American University, Washington, DC
Founding Editor
JACK R ABIN
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First published 2018
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