If You Don't Count, You Don't Count: Monitoring and Evaluation in South African NGOs

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01776.x
• Publication Date: 2012-05-17T18:14:44Z
• Authors: Natascha Mueller‐...
• Keywords: Governmentality; Civil Society; Staffing

ABSTRACT Non‐Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are increasingly challenged to demonstrate accountability and relevance, with reporting, monitoring evaluation arguably having become development activities in their own right. Drawing on interviews observation research, this article examines the impact of intensified (M&E) requirements a number South African NGOs. M&E — types expertise, vocabularies practices it gives rise is an important area that usually neglected study NGOs but significantly impacts NGOs’ logic operation. By focusing three areas data considered appropriate conduct M&E, staffing organizational cultures, reformist relationships other civil society organizations (CSOs) revealed as central discursive element constitution neoliberal development. engaging neo‐Foucauldian framework governmentality, thus understood technologies through which governing accomplished trans‐scalar post‐apartheid domain.