NGOs Engaging with Business: A World of Difference and a Difference to the World by SIMON HEAP. (Oxford: INTRAC, 2000, pp. 309).
✍ Scribed by Marcus H. Lenzen
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 31 KB
- Volume
- 15
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0954-1748
- DOI
- 10.1002/jid.945
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
environmental costs and improve monitoring and supervision, particularly of mining operations. The impacts on migration and urbanization in Ghana are discussed in Chapters 12, 14 and 15. The rapid urbanization in Ghana is partly blamed on the SAP as it has resulted in Accra (the capital) becoming the focal point of national development. Effective urban management is therefore essential to mitigate social and economic problems associated with the rapid urbanization.
Chapter 18 discusses the sustainability of economic restructuring in Ghana based on a World Bank study. It is argued that the gains under SAP can be sustained if private sector participation is increased and there is a reduction in aid dependency. An alternative model for evaluating organizational performance is proposed in Chapter 19 and a synthesis of the main issues is presented in Chapter 20.
The general conclusion of the book paints a grim picture: 'Considering all the litany of ills that have afflicted Ghana since the adjustment programs were put in place, it may be safe to conclude that Ghana is experiencing the worst of times ' (p. 428). This conclusion reflects a general problem with the 'before and after' analysis underpinning the chapters, as there is a tendency to attribute everything 'bad' to the SAP. The book ignores two important lines of enquiry that could have enriched the analysis and qualified the conclusions. First, 'given the state of the Ghanaian economy at the advent of the SAP what would have been an alternative set of policies?' What in other words, is the appropriate counter-factual? Second, to what extent did the prescribed policies deviate from those implemented? As the book is most critical about the 'adjustment arm' of the SAP this deviation can be quite crucial in determining the effects on the country.
The editing of the book leaves something to be desired. The sequencing of chapters is a bit haphazard. Chapters that are more closely related could have been brought under the same section to give the book a better flow. Furthermore, little effort was made to integrate the chapters resulting in frequent repetition. One observes 'an overview of SAP in Ghana' in Chapters 1, 2, 9 and 11 with little difference in the content under each chapter. This book provides interesting reading even if it is a bit overzealous in its criticism of the SAP in Ghana. The novelty lies in the fact that the evaluation is multi-disciplinary and would therefore interest a wide range of development researchers.