Project description
Tracking implementation of Global South development
International development, which facilitated the cross-border transfer of funds and expertise, played a central role in the 20th-century global order. However, project implementation and especially grassroots dynamics remain poorly understood. The ERC-funded DEVHIST project will explore how interactions among individuals and groups shaped development efforts in the Global South between the 1950s and 1990s. By focusing on the implementation phase, the project will uncover discrepancies between planned objectives and actual outcomes, foregrounding the experiences of local communities and mid-level aid workers. Using an innovative historical methodology, it will analyse overlooked sources (including project files and local narratives) to offer fresh insights into development initiatives across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Objective
International development—the cross-border transfer of funds and expertise for developmental purposes—formed a core plank of the twentieth century international system. But we still know very little about the grassroots dynamics of international development in the twentieth century. DEVHIST will be the first project to systematically examine the encounters between individuals, groups and worldviews that both attended and often reshaped international development at points of implementation across the Global South, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Taking the site of implementation as a dynamic space of renegotiation, this project will expose and interrogate the gap between planned and Actually Existing Development in the twentieth century. Uncovering the complex negotiations that remade international development projects at the point of implementation will reveal the previously unseen viewpoints and agency of Global South communities and mid-level aid workers on the international system. A more granular understanding of the lived experience of international development, including the coercion, resistance and renegotiation that often attended development projects in the Global South, will also facilitate a re-evaluation of historical international development and the broader systems of global governance that emerged in the post-war period. To achieve these outcomes, DEVHIST will pioneer a multiscalar historical methodology that traces international development programmes through every stage of their lifecycle, and draw upon a previously neglected source base including Project Files and Global South-produced accounts. It will apply this approach to programmes and projects implemented by a range of development actors, including Western and Eastern bloc state development agencies, multilateral development banks, international organisations, and development NGOs, in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology governance
- social sciences political sciences political policies civil society civil society organisations nongovernmental organizations
- social sciences other social sciences development studies
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
WC2R 2LS London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.