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Precarious future: Community volunteers and HIV/AIDS in a Tanzanian roadside town
Boesten, Jelke
Boesten, Jelke
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2007
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� 2007 University of Bradford. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk)
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Precarious_Future.pdf
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Abstract
This study focuses on a widely promoted belief that community?driven and community?based interventions for development are not only cost?effective, but also just and democratic. In particular, it examines community?based initiatives related to HIV/AIDS in one Tanzanian roadside town. The interventions discussed here suggest that increased community participation does not automatically lead to more equitable access to services, to the empowerment of the poor, or even to the planned service delivery at all.
Dependence on local volunteers�who have multiple motives and interests�can hamper the relationship between provider and beneficiary. A preference for minimal state involvement and maximum decentralisation can easily result in institutional abandonment, while trust in an undefined �community� may hinder rather than encourage coordination at the community level. As shown below, such factors can result not only in services failing to be delivered, but can also lead to increased local conflict over scarce resources, rising unfulfilled expectations, the reinforcement of inequalities and government neglect.
In the absence of a strong institutional framework such as the state, community structures and social relationships�unquantifiable and often specific to particular locations�appear central to the functioning of community?based development interventions, including those related to AIDS prevention and care.
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Boesten J (2007) Precarious future: Community volunteers and HIV/AIDS in a Tanzanian roadside town. University of Bradford, Department of Peace Studies, International Centre for Participation
Studies. ICPS Working Paper 4.
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