Highlight the aid worker, not the poverty victim - A comparative field study of public and private aid in Ghana

Abstract: This study investigates whether privately funded aid projects enable a more effective development compared to publicly run, with the perspectives of local street-level bureaucrats at focus. The purpose is to highlight aid workers as much of policy is being formed and put into practice at street-level rather than policy level in developing countries. New emerging actors on the aid arena also calls for a need of investigation. The underlying premise of the study is that effective development cooperation postulates implementation done in a fruitful way. The study is guided by interviews with Ghanaian teachers and librarians working in different development projects in the south of Ghana. In order to understand the policy process and context of which the street-level bureaucrats are working in, important aspects of implementation is examined. Lipsky’s street-level bureaucrats form the basis of the theoretical framework together with March & Olsen’s way of explaining policies and Lundquist’s essential conditions for street-level bureaucrats. The results of the study indicate that privately funded aid projects enable a more effective development, seen from the perspectives of local street-level bureaucrats. Mainly capacity in terms of financial resources and ability to act are highlighted, together with the important factor of the individual will.