Developing partnerships: the assertion of local control of international development volunteers in South Africa

Abstract

The rhetoric of partnerships is deeply embedded in development policy and practice. Critiques of both participatory development in general and partnerships in particular, however, have argued that the rhetoric of partnerships, implying local control and ownership and mutual responsibility and accountability, is matched instead in practice by highly asymmetrical power relationships and continuing dominance and control by northern agencies. Such criticisms can apply to international volunteering in development partnerships, where northern sending agencies maintain control of ‘their’ volunteers and are driven primarily by supply-side factors: the availability, aspirations and capabilities of the volunteers. This paper examines the case of a local development agency in South Africa – Aspire – and finds that it has been particularly effective in promoting its own version of partnership arrangements with volunteers. Through a combination of assertive attitudes, careful use of language and integrated management systems, Aspire is able to implement a demand-driven capabilities approach to its international ‘recruits’ in such a way as to give substance to the transformative promise of robust international partnerships.