How can aid be decolonized and localized in the Pacific? Yielding and wielding power

IF 2 3区经济学 Q2 DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Development Policy Review Pub Date : 2023-07-19 DOI:10.1111/dpr.12732

Theresa Meki, Jope Tarai

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Motivation

The colonial legacies of aid and development in the Pacific continue to be at the centre of policy debate. The ideal is to decolonize and localize the practice of aid and development. However, decolonization and localization have become highly contested in their definition and proposed practical approaches. We call decolonization and localization “decolocalization.”

Purpose

This article aims to explore perspectives and proposals for decolocalization in the Pacific Islands.

Methods and approach

We talked to five key informants, all local to their islands, all with considerable development experience; we held a focus group; and we combined these insights and learnings with our own experience as Pacific Islanders engaged with development. Our analysis is reflexive.

Findings

Development practice in the Pacific Islands typically overvalues external Euro-centric knowledge and undervalues local knowledge. Most aid and development discourse has stressed financial figures, charts, and statistical assertions overwhelmingly from a donor perspective; Pacific non-statistical, human, and embodied contextual realities are overlooked or discounted. Hierarchies are created that privilege outsiders and discriminate against islanders.

A practical operationalization of decolocalization can begin with the recognition and practice of outsiders yielding and insiders wielding power.

Policy implications

We recommend decolocalization as a framework for studying and analysing colonial vestiges in Pacific aid and development. Decolocalization can be practised by outsiders yielding and insiders wielding power in aid and development.

Decolocalization is not an ultimate solution to a highly complex issue, but it offers a conceptual position; one that allows Pacific Islander scholars, thought leaders, and aid and development practitioners to further unpack the nuances and issues around aid and development from a Pacific Islander perspective.

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如何使援助在太平洋地区非殖民化和地方化?屈服和行使权力

太平洋地区援助和发展的殖民遗留问题继续是政策辩论的中心。理想的做法是使援助和发展的做法非殖民化和地方化。然而，非殖民化和地方化在其定义和提出的实际办法方面受到高度争议。我们把去殖民化和地方化称为“去殖民化”。本文旨在探讨太平洋岛屿非殖民化的前景和建议。我们采访了5名关键线人，他们都是当地居民，都有丰富的开发经验;我们举行了一个焦点小组;我们将这些见解和学习与我们自己作为太平洋岛民参与发展的经验结合起来。我们的分析是自反性的。太平洋岛屿的发展实践通常高估了以欧洲为中心的外部知识，而低估了本地知识。绝大多数援助和发展话语都从捐助国的角度强调财务数据、图表和统计断言;太平洋地区的非统计、人类和具体的背景现实被忽视或低估。等级制度的建立使外来者享有特权，并歧视岛民。非殖民化的实际操作可以从承认和实践外来者让步和内部人行使权力开始。政策影响我们建议将非殖民化作为研究和分析太平洋援助和发展中的殖民痕迹的框架。非殖民化可以通过外来者让步和内部人士在援助和发展方面行使权力来实现。非殖民化不是一个高度复杂问题的最终解决方案，但它提供了一个概念立场;它允许太平洋岛民学者、思想领袖和援助与发展实践者从太平洋岛民的角度进一步剖析援助与发展的细微差别和问题。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Development Policy Review DEVELOPMENT STUDIES-

CiteScore

3.50

自引率

5.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Development Policy Review is the refereed journal that makes the crucial links between research and policy in international development. Edited by staff of the Overseas Development Institute, the London-based think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues, it publishes single articles and theme issues on topics at the forefront of current development policy debate. Coverage includes the latest thinking and research on poverty-reduction strategies, inequality and social exclusion, property rights and sustainable livelihoods, globalisation in trade and finance, and the reform of global governance. Informed, rigorous, multi-disciplinary and up-to-the-minute, DPR is an indispensable tool for development researchers and practitioners alike.