Abstract
We welcomed the term "development management" to our professional lexicon several decades ago in part because of its focus on implementation and on achieving the objectives and values of the development enterprise. Over the years we have struggled with meaning, and how management is somehow different because it is about or for development. We still struggle with issues of power that are inherent in questions of who manages development, how, and for whom. Kortem, 1980, talked about participation and community control. In 2004, we still struggle with the limitations of top-down approaches and how to achieve participation. This article is built on three mini-case studies prepared by masters degree students in the Sustainable International Development Program at Brandeis University. The cases use the conceptual lenses of ownership, partnership, and capacity building to examine the work of NGOs in Senegal, Malawi and Pakistan and to explore participation and power issues among their key stakeholders. It draws out lessons on managing power differentials, building trust, ownership and capacity, sharing accountability for outcomes, and building partnerships with local governments. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]