Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals (Jan 2006)
The Quality of Relationships in International Development: Institutional and Personal Implications
Abstract
In this article, the authors explore some of the personal and organisational implications entailed in satisfying the new demands for greater transparency and accountability in development aid. This calls for changes in the relationships among the different actors inthe international development system. The first part of the article focuses on how the groups of people conceive each other and behave, that is, the “personal” dimension of the construction of the relationship. In this sense, one can observe the role that can be played by the individual development agent to support the change in relationships called for by the new development agenda. In the second part, it examines how the people are connected through their organisations, as well as the institutional mechanisms that can hinder the development of quality relationships, and also how they can be transformed in order to better satisfy the needs of the new poverty reduction agenda.
