Doing Development Right. Rights-Based Development and the NGO Agenda - a Case Study from Guatemala

Abstract: Since the beginning of the new millennium the Rights-Based Approach (RBA) to development has come to influence the international development agenda, challenging the traditional charity model and the Basic Needs Approach (BNA). A large theoretical literature can be found on RBA, as well as training material and handbooks for development practitioners. Little is to be found, however, on the implications of RBA in practice. What difference does the approach make in people’s lives? This is a central question for this study, which was carried out during a three month period in the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, situated in the north-western part of Guatemala. There, the Swedish Organization for Individual Relief (SOIR) supports local organizations aiming to improve the situation for the indigenous population of Mayan heritage. The women’s organization CODEIM is one of these organizations and the subject for this study, which has been carried out using a variety of qualitative methods, such as interviews and participatory observations. The aim was to discern opportunities and challenges for SOIR and CODEIM to work from a RBA and the conclusions imply that there are potentials as well as difficulties ahead and that the toughest challenges concern changing attitudes towards development cooperation, involving pedagogical tasks in Sweden as well as in Guatemala.