ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the changing relationships between development NGOs, donors and government agencies in the provision of rural development services in Bangladesh. The particular focus is the problematic language of ‘partnership’ which is increasingly used in social policy and international development policy circles. It seeks to draw lessons from a case study of a rural development project which has attempted to bring government agencies and local and national development NGOs together in order to improve the provision of services provided to low-income rural households engaged in small-scale aquaculture. A model is presented which contrasts ‘active’ and ‘dependent’ forms of partnership in an effort to understand why the performance of such partnerships are often variable. Some of the insights gained into the ‘processes’ of partnership building, it is argued, may offer lessons for researchers and policy makers which could have relevance beyond Bangladesh in other developed and less developed country contexts.1