Abstract
Based on interviews with workers from organisations including INGOs, SNGOs and CBOs, this chapter investigates the Listening Zones in Malawi. A key theme of the interviews is the influence of asymmetrical power on listening relationships. The communication between donor and NGO was characterised as unidirectional: the NGO listens and responds to the donor’s agenda but there is little reciprocity. Projects are funded and conceptualised by donors and framed in terms of English development buzzwords that are not easily translatable to the local languages. NGOs are compelled to adopt the language of the donor to access funds and to comply with reporting requirements. Thus, the foundation is laid for the creation of a Listening Zone between NGO and community that is highly distorted and exclusionary, where the purpose of listening and the language used largely reflects the donor’s agenda. Fieldworkers who interact with communities find it challenging to accurately explain the meaning of projects to communities, and they have to make copious use of locally appropriate euphemisms, idioms and metaphors. Participants claim that failing to listen and communicate in a culturally appropriate way can be a key factor in project failure because it impedes relationship building with the community. However, the financial power of donors over NGOs inhibits the latter from offering honest feedback about the implications of underfunding translation/interpretation work.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aminov, K., Jensen, V., Juraev, S., Overland, I., Tyan, D., & Uulu, Y. (2010). Language use and language policy in central Asia. Central Asia Regional Data Review, 2(1), 1–29.
Amnesty International. (2018). Malawi 2017/2018. Retrieved from: https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/malawi/report-malawi/.
Amusden, I. (2017). NORAD evaluation department (Report 4/2017 Country Evaluation Brief). Malawi. Retrieved from: https://norad.no/globalassets/publikasjoner/publikasjoner-2017/evaluering/4.17-country-evaluation-brief_malawi.pdf.
Anderson, E. L., & Patterson, A. S. (2017). Instrumentalizing AIDS empowerment discourses in Malawi and Zambia: an actor-oriented view of donor politics. International Affairs, 93(5), 1185–1204.
Biruk, C., & Ntata, P. R. (2009). The challenges of doing gender research in developing countries: Focus on Malawi. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 4(1), 1–15.
British Council. (2015). English in Peru: An examination of policy, perceptions and influencing factors. Retrieved from: https://ei.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/latin-america-research/English%20in%20Peru.pdf.
Chasukwa, M. H. M. (2018). The political economy of pooled development funds in Malawi—The case of local development fund (Unpublished PhD thesis). Leeds: University of Leeds.
CIA. (2018). The world factbook. Africa: Malawi. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/mi.html.
CONGOMA. (n.d). Vision & mission. Retrieved from: http://www.congoma.mw/about-us/vision-mission/.
Cornwall, A., & Eade, D. (2010). Deconstructing development discourse: Buzzwords and fuzzwords. Rugby: Practical Action Publishing.
CountryMeters. (2018). Malawi population. Retrieved from: https://countrymeters.info/en/Malawi.
Dodson, B., & Riley, L. (2016). ‘Gender hates men’: Untangling gender and development discourses in food security fieldwork in urban Malawi. Gender, Place & Culture, 23(7), 1047–1060.
Eggen, Ø. (2011). Chiefs and everyday governance: Parallel state organisations in Malawi. Journal of Southern African Studies, 37(02), 313–331.
Englund, H. (2006). Prisoners of freedom: Human rights and the African poor. Oakland: University of California Press.
Face of Malawi. (2013, April 23). Malawi has 5,000 NGOs operating illegal—NGO board. Face of Malawi. Retrieved from: http://www.faceofmalawi.com/2013/04/malawi-has-over-5000-ngos-operating-illegal-ngo-board/.
Freedom House. (2018). Freedom in the world 2018. Malawi profile. Retrieved from: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/malawi.
Gov.uk. (2018). Foreign travel advice: Malawi. Retrieved from: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/malawi/safety-and-security.
Gugerty, M. K. (2016). Shifting patterns of state regulation and NGO self-regulation in sub-Saharan Africa. In M. Fremont-Smith (Ed.), Regulatory waves: Comparative perspectives on state regulation and self-regulation policies in the nonprofit sector (pp. 69–91). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hayman, R., King, S., Kontinen, T., & Narayanaswamy, L. (Eds.). (2016). Negotiating knowledge: Evidence and experience in development NGOs. Rugby: Practical Action Publishing.
ICNL. (2019, 14 June). Civic freedom monitor: Malawi. Retrieved from: https://www.icnl.org/resources/civic-freedom-monitor/malawi.
IMF. (2017, July 5). IMF economic development document. Retrieved from: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2017/07/05/Malawi-Economic-Development-Document-45037.
IMF. (2018). GNP per capita: Current prices. IMF DataMapper. Retrieved from: https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPPC@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD/ZMB/MWI.
Kamwendo, G. H. (2016). The new language of instruction policy in Malawi: A house standing on a shaky foundation. International Review of Education, 62(2), 221–228.
Kayuni, S. W. (2016). Running to stand still: Reflections on the cashgate scandal heist in Malawi. Journal of Money Laundering Control, 19(2), 169–188.
Makoni, S. B. (2012). Language and human rights discourses in Africa: Lessons from the African experience. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 7(1), 1–20.
Malawian Government. (2011). Malawi aid atlas 2010/11FY. Retrieved from: http://www.mw.undp.org/content/dam/malawi/docs/capdev/AID%20ATLAS%202010-11%20-%20Malawi.pdf.
Malawian Government. (2017). The Malawi growth and development strategy (MDGS) III (2017–2022). Retrieved from: https://www.afidep.org/download/policy_guidelines/Malawi-Growth-_-Development-Strategy-MGDS-III-2017-2022-Final-Version-copy.pdf.
Matiki, A. J. (2001). The social significance of English in Malawi. World Englishes, 20(2), 201–218.
McNamara, T. (2015a). English, community and opportunity in northern Malawi. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 26(3), 456–469.
McNamara, T. (2015b). A village and its NGOs: Community embedded utilisations and understandings of NGO presence in rural northern Malawi (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Melbourne.
McNamara, T. (2017). “They are not understanding sustainability”: Contested sustainability narratives at a northern Malawian development interface. Human Organization, 76(2), 121–130.
National Statistical Office. (2016). Malawi in figures 2016. Retrieved from: http://www.nsomalawi.mw/images/stories/data_on_line/general/malawi_in_figures/Malawi%20in%20Figures%202016(1).pdf.
National Statistical Office. (2017, February). Malawi demographic and health survey 2015–2016. Retrieved from: https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR319/FR319.pdf.
Ross, K. R. (2013). Malawi and Scotland together in the talking place since 1859. Oxford: African Books Collective.
Strasser, P. G. (2016). An anti-corruption bureau’s inexorable endeavor: A study of Malawi’s Cashgate Sandal. Washington & Lee Law Review Online, 73, 303–367.
Swidler, A., & Watkins, S. C. (2017). A Fraught embrace: The romance and reality of AIDS altruism in Africa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Transparency International. (2018). Malawi. Retrieved from: https://www.transparency.org/country/MWI#.
UN. (2015). Sustainable development goals: Localisation, opportunities and challenges for Malawi. Retrieved from: https://mw.one.un.org/sdgs-malawi/.
UNData. (2009). Population by language, sex, and urban/rural residence. Retrieved from: http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode:27.
USAID (2016, September 26). Malawi gender equality factsheet. Retrieved from: https://www.usaid.gov/malawi/fact-sheets/malawi-gender-equality-fact-sheet.
Williams, E. (2014). Bridges and barriers: Language in African education and development. London: Routledge.
World Bank. (2017). Net official development assistance and net official aid received (current US$). Malawi. Retrieved from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ALLD.CD?locations=MW&most_recent_value_desc=false&view=chart.
World Bank (2018a). Malawi. Retrieved from: https://data.worldbank.org/country/malawi.
World Bank. (2018b). Rural population (% of total population). Retrieved from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS.
World Bank. (2018c, August 2). Malawi—Fourth integrated household survey 2016–2017. Retrieved from: http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2936.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Footitt, H., Crack, A.M., Tesseur, W. (2020). Malawi. In: Development NGOs and Languages. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51776-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51776-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-51775-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-51776-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)