DEVELOPMENT METHODS AND APPROACHES: Critical Reflections

Many aid agencies adopt values-based approaches to development – requiring, for instance, that they should be rights-based, participatory, gender-equitable, and sustainable – but these approaches are often at odds with the methods that the agencies actually adopt. This selection of essays offers critical readings of fashionable tools such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Logical Frameworks, in addition to presenting less familiar methods. Two central themes emerge: that a project-based approach tends to distort rather than illuminate the wider picture; and that whatever the ideology underpinning a given method, its impact will depend on the skills and understanding of those applying it.

Jo Rowlands is a Policy Adviser on Gender and Participation in Oxfam GB’s UK Poverty Programme.