ABSTRACT
One rhythm of development practice in the Nigerian city of Kano is the rhythm of heat: the alternation between a pounding sun outside—;;108°F (42°C) in May—;;and a cooler but stagnant indoor warmth. Changing paradigms of development might lead us to think that new trends lead to drastic variations on the ground; from a practitioner viewpoint, however, many projects look similar over time despite widely divergent justifications. The rhythm of practice is different from that of theory and policy, since it involves constant negotiation with administrative duty, contractual detail, and local expectation. This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights one of the quandaries that make successful development work so elusive: a resistance to change among many practitioners and organizations. It explores the dilemmas of sustainable programming through the examination of two United States Agency for International Development education projects in northern Nigeria.
