SECTION 3 - ‘Doing projects’ in broad-based transformatory coalitions
Doing projects
Gender and development NGOs ‘do projects’. The activities they engage in are routinely called ‘projects/programmes’ (* insert characters xiangmu), and the activity of engaging in or implementing these is called ‘doing projects (* insert characters zuo xiangmu). This refers to activities being funded by aid agencies and is an adoption of aid agency terminology.
Doing projects involves interaction with both NNGOs and various party-state institutions. An extremely simplified version of how projects are often constructed goes as follows: Either the NGO approaches the donor with a proposal or the donor approaches the NGO. Once the project content, timeframe, staffing and budget have been negotiated and agreement reached, the NGO involves party-state institutions who provide access to the localities where the project will be implemented and to the people who are targeted.
The Chinese NGOs, NNGOs and party-state institutions are involved in projects at various stages in various ways. The NGOs are involved from start to finish, while the donor and party-state institutions are not directly involved (or as visibly involved) to the same degree during the whole process. They are, however, present throughout the project in so far as projects cannot be implemented without the consent and support of donors and party-state institutions. Moreover, projects are permeated by both party-state/indigenous and donor/foreign practices, as well as by hybrid uses of party-state and donor practices. In the following we provide three (random) examples of (the merging of) such practices.
Training of trainers
Donor organizations are actively involved in the projects implemented by the Chinese NGOs. Or perhaps, more precisely, to apply the concept of space that we are proposing, we should instead write: donor organizations implement projects in collaboration with or in alliance with Chinese NGOs. Perhaps, this is self-evident. Probably no-one would assume that donors simply hand over a sum of money. On the contrary, detailed plans for project implementation are drawn up by the Chinese and NNGOs together. A further implication is that donors are not only present in the planning stage of a project. They are, although not directly and physically, also present in the implementation of the project. Donors have for example introduced TOT – training of trainers and they have built a system of ‘natural partners’ that can provide such training to a wide range of projects. The Beijing-Tianjin Gender and Development Group (Beijing-Tianjin shehui xingbie yu fazhan xiaozu???) is one of the groups that provides expert advice to projects.
参考资料:对吗? :flash0987 - 见习魔法师 二级