ABSTRACT
In recent decades, people living in poverty in the global South have been recast, in the eyes of international development agencies, from passive beneficiaries of aid to rights-holding citizens who can demand better public services and more accountable government (Gaventa and Barrett, 2010). Yet this shift has only partially reshaped the underlying assumptions behind many development and education interventions. Beneficiaries are now engaged citizens, but the capacity-deficit logic and theory of change based on rational cognition remain implicit in the design of much citizen education. Citizens and states are viewed as demand-side and supply-side actors who can be trained to understand and perform their roles more effectively. More educated and aware citizens will develop agency to voice concerns and claim rights, while state actors can learn to better consult with citizens and respond to feedback.
