So Near and Yet So Far in Ethiopia: Values and Mental Models
Along the Aid Chain
Virginia Williamson
Paper for presentation at the DSA Conference, London, 5th November 2010
Panel: Poverty Reduction as Development Morality - Theory & Practice
Perception and Practice: Participation, Evaluation and
Aid Harmonisation in Ethiopia
Doctoral research:
What accounts for the variation in forms of participation in evaluation of
donor-funded aid programmes?
 what cultural and institutional factors affect participation in evaluation?
 what role does participation in M&E play in donors’ development
strategies/performance management/organisational learning?
Perception and practice: among donor staff, regional and local government
staff, and local populations (gathered via semi-structured interviews and by
textual analysis of donor documents)
Shared Mental Models framework
Underlying approach: Long’s ‘social actor’
Analytical model:
Denzau, A. T. and North, D. C. (1994). Shared Mental Models: Ideologies and Institutions. Kyklos.
47 (1), 3-31.
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decision-making is governed by uncertainty rather than risk
mental models are formed from culture and belief systems (religion and/or ideology)
sustained sharing of information permits mutual understanding and thus learning
shifts in MM are aided by the plasticity of language
significant shifts only occur when A adopts B’s mental model because it explains a crisis
which A’s MM has failed to do.
Mental model A
(recipient)
Mental model B
(donor)
Ethiopia - context (1)
Historical and political context:
 Foundation myth - Sheba, Solomon,
Menelik (Kebre Negast C14th)
 Religious syncretism (tho’ 16th Islamic
incursion)
 Meles Zenawi, EPRDF, Revolutionary
Democracy
 2005 and 2010 elections.
Associational life and ‘civil society’:
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Northern highland regions
Well-being and Ill-being in Development, Ethiopia (WIDE, 2003)
Trust, individualism v. the collective
Tight self-regulation in labour-sharing, burial, self-help, rotating credit or religion-based
associations
Government has re-categorised mass organisations as CSOs
‘Weak’ civil society
Harmonisation in Ethiopia - dialogue architecture (2003-2005)
Participation and evaluation - government-community sphere
Participation
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21/22 days ‘contribution’ of labour per year
Development activities announced in church compound on Sundays, evaluated on saints days
Activities specified by Bureau of Agriculture/DAs, organised and monitored by development
group leaders and then cell leaders; sanctions imposed for non-participation
Contribution of ‘ideas’ in meetings
Persuasion used to rally consensus; displays of oratory; judicious silence sometimes admired
Majority voting increasingly used, but minority “left alone”
Evaluation
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Cell leaders collect (i) data - agriculture, household assets, (ii) taxes
Weekly/fortnightly/monthly evaluation through public self-criticism, thro’ tiers of government
Contrition keeps the subject of criticism within the group
Cell
Development group
Got/kushet (hamlet)
Kebele/tabia (large village)
Woreda (district)
Participation and evaluation - donor perception and practice
Participation
Range of opinion:
 Discussion of participation proved difficult, particularly for national staff
 Conceptions ranged from ‘use of civil society organisations in planning and monitoring PRSP’
to individual empowerment to “We don’t really know what goes on, but we hope things are
improving”
 Long-term engagement provides greater institutional knowledge but frequent rotations
reduced effectiveness; internationals rely on national staff for institutional memory
Political v. Technical:
 Development is now ‘political’, so role and status of technical experts is reduced
 More time talking to other donors than to government; need to ‘influence’ and promote
agency’s expertise - political skills which had to be learnt
 Increased reliance on ‘Washington’ for data, and ‘Paris’ for strategy
Evaluation
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Amount of technical reporting reduced at HQ’s request; more emphasis on political reporting
Concern about the logic of PIs and their progress would be ‘mechanistic’; donors should
facilitate not interfere, but also experienced difficulty gaining access.
Opinion ranged from dependability of government data to need to collect information from
other sources as a ‘reality check’
Donor evaluations rarely undertaken ? obviated by NAA.
Values, profession and identity
DONOR COMMUNITY
(Some like-minded,
some not)
Donor
Metropolitan
Expert
‘Bureaucrat’
Technical
specialist
Local leader
(multiple core identity, shared with
others despite contestations)
National donor staff
(‘national’ in the embassy, habesha
and ‘donor’ in the field)
NGO
experience
International donor staff
(identity linked to
training and experience)
CIDA >civil servants, different
nationalities
DCI >former NGO staff
Sida >senior, technical staff
Congruence, ambiguity and disjuncture
Congruence
Disjuncture
Ambiguity
Participation:
Skilled speech
Exhortation
Consensus
Knowledgeable/weak capacity
dyad
Reliance on quantitative data
Ideology
Evaluation
Process
The project of development
Participation:
‘contribution’
Social capital
Agency and voice
Values, communication and information
Ireland
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“at the cutting edge of international development policy”
Roman Catholic missionary work provided a “template” for Irish aid
“own experience of colonisation, poverty, famine and mass emigration has provided a basis for a long tradition
of solidarity with the poor and dispossessed”
(EMPATHY)
At home: Strict rules about social actions; importance of consensus; the opinions/wishes of the individual are
unimportant/politically divisive.
Canada
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Leading member of international
community, committed to harmonisation
Multiculturalism at home, importance of
social cohesion (GLOBAL SECURITY)
Development essential part of foreign
policy objectives: jobs and prosperity;
common security; and Canadian values
and culture
Sweden
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“solidarity with the underprivileged is
regarded as a moral responsibility”
Professionally, strong normative drive, selfcritical (SOLIDARITY/KNOWLEDGE)
At home: trust, cooperation, equality and
moderation important. Associational
membership 92%.
Spatial and conceptual proximity
Conclusions
Shared Mental Models approach:
 analyses rate of change
 identifies areas of congruence, ambiguity and disjuncture as opportunities for improved
communication and therefore learning
 is inherently reflexive.
Using SMM as an analytical tool:
 Reconfirmed that donors’ and recipients’ aid policies and relationships are grounded in their
own cultural and political contexts, revealing contradictions in the NAA’s normative framework.
 Indicated that strength of identity and validity of customary practice reduce uncertainty. The
political and social heterogeneity proffered by NAA and development discourse may threaten
this. Mental models are logical to their owners and therefore ‘legitimate’.
Implications/suggestions for DM studies:
 Donors give aid for ‘enlightened self-interest’ as well as humanitarian reasons. Critique the
relative roles played by empathy, ‘discourse’, ideology and information in policy and practice.
 Expand critique of policy and practice beyond the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ boundaries of the NAA, i.e. to
other donors in West, South and East.