Civil society and public–private partnerships: case study of the Agri-FoodBank in South Africa

Abstract

In recent decades, civil society organizations (CSOs) have joined public–private partnerships (PPPs) to reduce poverty and promote local development. In what follows, I analyze the development of the Agri-FoodBank (AFB) CSO in South Africa in order to critically examine PPPs. As part of the FoodBank South Africa (FBSA) network of food banks, the AFB has emerged to reduce rural and urban food insecurities. Building on the national system of food banks, the AFB aims to train small-scale rural farmers to sell their crops to the food bank’s network of local food organizations which then feed the urban poor. In the case of the AFB, findings suggest that the PPP emerged as a mutually beneficial collaboration between the state and FBSA, as the state needed political power and FBSA needed money. However, for this PPP to form, FBSA completely transformed its mission and structure to fit the state’s preference for rural development projects. Thus, although the AFB formed to empower FBSA, data findings indicate that the AFB has increased state control over FBSA. In this way, PPPs need to be understood within the context of local state-civil society relations, as methods of state control reflect South Africa’s unique version of neoliberalism.

Résumé

Ces dernières décennies, les Organisations de Société Civile (OSC) ont rejoint les Partenariats Publics-Privés (PPP) pour réduire la pauvreté et promouvoir le développement local. Dans ce qui suit, j’analyse le développement de la Banque AgriFood OSC en Afrique du Sud afin d’examiner les PPP d’un œil critique. Faisant partie du réseau de banques alimentaires des Food Bank South Africa (FBSA ou Banques Alimentaires de l’Afrique du Sud), l’AgriFoodBank (AFB) a été fondée pour réduire l’insécurité alimentaire rurale et urbaine. En s’appuyant sur le système national des banques alimentaires, l’AFB a pour but de former les petits agriculteurs ruraux à la vente de leurs récoltes aux réseaux de banques alimentaires d’organisations alimentaires locales qui, à leur tour, nourrissent les populations urbaines pauvres. Dans le cas de l’AFB, les résultats des recherches suggèrent que les PPP sont nés d’une collaboration mutuellement bénéfique entre l’Etat et FBSA, car l’Etat avait besoin de pouvoir politique et FBSA avait besoin d’argent. Cependant, pour que les PPP soient formés, FBSA a complètement transformé sa mission et sa structure pour s’adapter à la préférence de l’Etat pour les projets de développement rural. Ainsi, bien que l’AFB ait été fondée pour donner les moyens d’agir aux FBSA, les résultats des données indiquent que l’AFB a augmenté le contrôle de l’Etat sur les FBSA. Par conséquent, les PPP ont besoin d’être compris dans le contexte des relations locales de la société civile-étatique, puisque les méthodes de contrôle étatique reflètent la version unique de néolibéralisme de l’Afrique du Sud.

Resumen

En las últimas décadas, las organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC) se han unido a las asociaciones público-privadas (APP) para reducir la pobreza y promover el desarrollo local. En lo que sigue, se analiza el desarrollo de la Agri-Food Bank OSC en Sudáfrica a fin de examinar críticamente las APP. Como parte de la red de bancos de alimento Food Bank South Africa (FBSA), la organización Agri-Food Bank (AFB) ha surgido para reducir la inseguridad alimentaria rural y urbana. Basándose en el sistema nacional de bancos de alimentos, la AFB tiene como objetivo capacitar a los agricultores rurales de pequeña escala para vender sus cosechas a la red de organizaciones locales de alimentos del banco de alimentos que luego abastece a los pobres en zonas urbanas. En el caso de la AFB, los hallazgos sugieren que la APP surgió como una colaboración mutuamente beneficiosa entre el Estado y la FBSA, ya que el estado necesitaba poder político y la FBSA necesitaba dinero. Sin embargo, para que esta APP se formara, la FBSA transformó completamente su misión y estructura para adaptarse a las preferencias del Estado por proyectos de desarrollo rural. Por lo tanto, aunque la AFB se formó para fortalecer la FBSA, los hallazgos de datos indican que la AFB ha aumentado el control estatal sobre la FBSA. De esta manera, las APP necesitan ser entendidas en el contexto de las relaciones de la sociedad Estado-civil locales, ya que los métodos de control del Estado reflejan la versión única del neoliberalismo de Sudáfrica.

Keywords:

• South Africa
• civil society
• public–private partnership
• governance
• food insecurity
• food bank

Mots clés:

• Afrique du Sud
• société civile
• partenariat public-privé
• gouvernance
• sécurité alimentaire
• banque alimentaire

Palabras clave:

• Sudáfrica
• sociedad civil
• asociación público-privada
• gobernabilidad
• seguridad alimentaria
• banco de alimentos

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Geoffrey DeVerteuil and the anonymous journal reviewers for reading this manuscript. Also, I am grateful to the staff at FoodBank South Africa, TechnoServe, and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government for speaking with me. In addition, I want to thank the farmers, fieldworkers, and other community stakeholders for discussing their opinions with me. Lastly, thanks to the University of Southern California for funding this research. All errors are the responsibility of the author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I use Tostensen, Tvedten, and Vaa (2001) who define civil society as the social activity located between the state and private households.

2. Building on Bebbington et al., (2008), I conceptualize development as a dynamic process, whereby the human condition is improved, particularly as it pertains to the basic necessities of life.

3. Semi-structured interviews were conducted during 9 am–5 pm Monday–Friday. Although standard protocol-guided semi-structured interviews were used, question format was open and exploratory once the questionnaire was completed. These interviews were recorded and transcribed with agreement from the interviewee. All interviews were cited in the same manner: (interviewee role, institution, and date). As multiple interviews were completed on the same day, many interviews have the same interview date. Interviews were edited for grammatical clarity when necessary.

4. In 2011, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, and Rural Development changed names to become the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs.

5. This includes R16,000,000 or $2,133,333 from the parastatal National Lotteries, R3,300,000 or $440,000 from the South African national Department of Social Development, R1,000,000 or $133,333 from Pioneer Foods, and R183,738 or $24,498 from GFN (Administrator, FBSA, 11 January 2009). R7.5 to $1 exchange rate in November 2009.

6. See Endnote 5 for exchange rate.

7. Section 21 non-profits have at least seven members. Each of these members agree to take on the financial responsibility of the organization's finances (South African Revenue Service, 2007).

8. R6.8 to $1 exchange rate in April 2009.

9. The provincial KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environment promotes non-organic pesticides in farming. It is unclear whether the seeds used are genetically modified.

10. R8.2 to $1 exchange rate in August 2012. Importantly, exchange rates have fluctuated from R6.6 to $1 to R11.2 to $1 between 2009 and 2014.

11. See Endnote 10.