Paper long abstract:

Globalization has meant differently to different people. To some it is a system of domination and disempowerment, while to others it is the restructuring of the world economy in the interest of capitalist class. One of the main instruments of globalization in the poor countries of Asia and Africa is the Structural Adjustment Program. Globalization might be responsible for economic development to some extent; it has affected seriously the gender relations. Besides land and labor, agricultural training, credit technology, marketing are the other areas where women are at disadvantageous position. Privatization of the social security system and grossly under funded health care system has also affected the African women. It creates the conditions of violence against woman, particularly trafficking and prostitution. Social inequalities enhanced by globalization have led the women work hard for less. There is a need to establish gender equality in all policies at all levels; there is a need for more active participation of women in decision-making. For this NGO’s and women organization should be involved. There is a need for reappraisal of African worldview so that it could be utilized in favor of women’s interest.

Paper long abstract:

‘Local’ NGOs in Africa are frequently accused of being agents of globalisation or rather of westernisation. They are seen as bringers of western culture, a comprador class of intermediaries who bring the influence of the west to their compatriots. As self proclaimed advocates of development these are organisations openly committed to the advancement of western modernity.

This position however is deeply problematic for it makes many assumptions and relies on an unproblematised dichotomy between the local and the global which is frequently a westernised global. The global and the local are, however, produced and re-produced together through discourses and practices and do not exist as separate realms but rather are productive of each other. ‘Local’ NGO discourses are sites of production for both the local and the global and produce particular locals and particular globals.

The recognition of the produced nature of the local and the global, require an engagement with the entanglement of NGOs with power relations at levels which can be considered both global and local. Not only does the paper refute the simplistic westernising NGO, but asks for an awareness of the power relations which are being enacted by the production of a particular often idealised local which can actually produce subjects incarcerated within its confines.