Browsing by Author "Prinsen, Gerard"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Measuring, defining, and valuing change: A database on development indicators for policy-makers, activists, and researchers
    (Institute of Development Studies, Massey University, 2013) Prinsen, Gerard; Purcell, Gisela
    The use of indicators in international development has increased exponentially since the 1990s. Composite and proxy indicators are used to measure a wide range of concepts but their shortcomings have been widely critiqued. Through a review of over 300 documents, this paper gives a brief history of the rise of “indicatorology” and then summarizes the key challenges in three categories: technical/operational, political/strategic and epistemological/conceptual. Technical challenges faced by development practitioners revolve around the over-simplification of complex issues and the conflation of the goals with indicators. Political challenges involve the inherent power of indicators and the implications they have for policy making. Epistemological challenges question how to balance scientific rigor with local knowledge in the creation and use of indicators. A database of all publications used in this research is being made accessible to development practitioners and researchers via Massey University – watch this space!
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Narratives of Creole islandness : exploring the relational practices of public servants and community leaders in Jamaica : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Waite, SueAnn Georgia
    Understanding islands as spaces that amplify relational phenomena, Creole as produced by the experience of plantation colonialism; and narratives as sense-making tools which sustain cultural repertoires, this thesis uses a case study of public servants and community leaders involved in local development planning in Jamaica to explore the extent to which relational practices of islanders are explainable through narratives of Creole islandness. Assuming relations as the building blocks of institutions, the thesis proposes that examining relations and their cultural context is instrumental to understanding institutional change (and maintenance). The research uses Jamaica as an example of a Creole island, with the local sustainable development planning process and the participatory governance framework as the institutional context. Three subnational jurisdictions in Jamaica provided the basis for identifying a network of public servants and community leaders to produce the conversation data used for analysis. Members of the diaspora involved in related development initiatives were also included. Conversations produced two sets of research data: 1) identity narratives of Creole islanders, and 2) relational practices in the design and implementation of the local development planning and participatory governance processes. Analysis of the data set revealed patterns among public servants and community leaders in their emphasis on different elements of shared narratives of Creole island identity and conceptions of development, as well as patterns of relational practices between public servants and community leaders in their roles in the local development planning and participatory governance processes. The findings provide insight into how cultural narratives and repertoires support actors in their navigation of governance processes on a Creole island and suggest the importance of planning for relational practices when designing and managing development and institutional change processes.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Negotiating on a seesaw : the decentralisation of education and health services in Uganda and Tanzania from a local perspective and in a historical context : a dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Prinsen, Gerard
    Since the 1990s, development policies have favoured the decentralisation of education and health services in Africa. Between 1997 and 2001, central governments of Uganda and Tanzania overhauled the formal frameworks and expanded the managerial and financial responsibilities of the local management committees of schools and dispensaries. This thesis examines how these changes affect the way in which these management committees engage with central government and with the local polity in which they operate. Field research in 2004 with 64 management committees in Uganda and Tanzania suggests that while central governments may appear to initiate decentralisation policies, they are essentially responding to developments in local polities. Similarly, central government may set regulations for management committees, but the diversity in local practices suggests that local circumstances and local agency are more likely determinants of how schools or dispensaries are actually managed. An analysis of the personal profiles of committee members reveals they mostly belong to the same segment of the population in the local polity; government‟s (s)election criteria or sector-specific factors play no role. Committee members do not „capture‟ committees as their personal fiefdom, but within a local polity it is likely that most functions in boards or committees are occupied on a rotational basis by a small group of individuals because more than half of the committee members simultaneously hold three or four positions. When taking a historical perspective, dominance in the institutional framework between local management committees and central government seesaws over periods of 15-30 years. If the wider institutional framework between local polities and central government since the late 19th century is studied, it becomes clear that the local resources flowing to government have varied in time – ivory, coffee, votes – but typically had limited local value, while commanding high prices on the international market. This secured cash income for central government, but also a negotiating lever for local polities. Throughout time, local polities have thus actively negotiated – from engagement to evasion – their institutional framework with central governments. The contemporary dynamic around school and dispensary committees is exemplary of that historical seesaw.