The value of narratives in rural development projects: a case from Ecuador

摘要

This paper suggests that a 'narrative' perspective can provide a fruitful way to o learn from rural development experiences and improve the organizational capacity of development projects. In this paper a number of conceptual windows are suggested for the analysis of narratives in projects. Our view is that narratives contribute to explain how actors align themselves within local processes of project negotiation. Following this line, the paper suggests three priority areas for attention: Firstly, the study of how policy makers address the discontinuities between policy formulation and policy implementation. Secondly, the analysis of the relation between people who do not have trust in a project and the process of attribution of agency. Thirdly, the distribution of responsibilities within a project. This last area is especially important when trust is called into play and actors' ability to cope with project demands starts to break down. In our view these three areas are of paramount importance and are directly connected with the significance of narratives in evaluating development projects.