Provocations for Development

Do we use obscure words to impress our colleagues - or fashionable ones to win research proposals? How do poor people define their poverty? How can we use aid budgets most effectively? Are many of our actions against poverty simple, direct... and wrong? Provocations for Development is an entertaining and unsettling collection of writings that questions concepts, conventions and practices in development. It is made up of short and accessible writings by Robert Chambers reflecting on the evolution of concepts like participation and of organizations like the World Bank. Besides provocations, there is mischief, verse and serious fun. The book is organized into four sections: Word Play, irreverently examines vocabularies of development and how words are instruments of power; Poverty and Participation challenges concepts of poverty, presents empowering breakthroughs in the current explosion of participatory methodologies; Aid, is critical of past and present procedures and practices in aid and points to feasible changes for doing better; For our Future touches on values, ethics, gender and participation, immersions, hypocrisy, and paradigms, and sees hope in children. The final provocation invites readers to find answers to the question 'what would it take to eliminate poverty in the world?'