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Contributions from
the Column
Books and Media
Trade policy
Going to battle for social security
The vain search for project reality
Culture and tradition: not an obstacle, but a development factor
03/2003
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Provocative insights
The vain search for project reality
Richard Rottenburg: Weit hergeholte Fakten. Eine Parabel der Entwicklungshilfe (Far-fetched facts. A parable of development assistance.), Stuttgart, Lucius & Lucius 2002, 271 pp., € 25.00, ISBN 3-8282-0213-6
The problem Rottenburg analyses on the basis of a fictional example is well-known to development cooperation professionals. In the sub-Saharan African country "Ruritanien" the German development bank "NEB", with the help of a German consulting company it has called in, is attempting to rehabilitate three urban waterworks. Organisational development is to eliminate losses due to leakage and tighten up collection of water charges. But the sector policy reforms promised by the partner, as well as other inputs, are a long time in coming.
The author derives from this standard situation provocative insights from the perspective of ethnology. Rottenburg is interested in what goes on in the "interstice" in the communication between donor and recipient actors. It is brilliant how he allows the players to describe from their own angles the complexity of the negotiation process and the use of pressure and instruments of power. Thus the dubiousness of the apparently objective, but actually "far-fetched facts" on the project becomes transparent.
So what is the "reality" of the East African waterworks? Rottenburg shows that both donor and recipient are compelled to agree on rules for the organisational procedure in grasping the ostensibly analytically reliable reality. A common code must be found which says something along the lines that waterworks projects are about the transfer of seemingly culture-neutral technology. What is not taken account of in the process is that the African partner might lack an elementary understanding of written records and running a bank account, and instead what counts is the personal memory of the water meter readers. Development projects fail, says Rottenburg, because they overlook the realities of the actors involved.
The reviewer knows of no other publication that has got to grips with a similar venture with the same sovereignty and detailed knowledge of institutions. The reader sees himself confronted with his own blind spots with regard to the fabric of developmental relationships. Against the background of the interpretation sample produced in this book, his own store of field experience gains startling new aspects. Rottenburg has achieved a great success.
Dieter Weiss
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