Networking resources, owning productivity: a post-development alternative in Mindanao?

Abstract

This paper explores the practices of one small non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Mindanao working innovatively to challenge power and interests by linking resources to local communities who control their productivity. While this may seem like social capital, I suggest that the agency over production, and the deeply political and ideological nature of the recipient communities, calls for a different reading. The regard for the contextual and contestational politics suggests that a radical alternative is emerging. I use post-development theory to frame the analysis of this example, posing the question: Is this practice a radical alternative to the internationally framed global development discourses, or are we witnessing the reproduction of these discourses in new forms?

Keywords:

• post-development
• social capital
• networking
• the state
• Mindanao
• livelihoods

Additional information

Funding

Funding: ESRC open competition 1+3.