Abstract

The goal of this article is to provide a critical assessment of the link between the macro-policies elaborated by international development agencies and the micro-projects implemented by international NGOs in cooperation with local organizations. The growing interest around issues like democracy, good governance, national institutions, civil society and participation in development policies, raises interesting questions. Is the distance between the "consensus" achieved among financial development agencies and the alternative UN "human" approach really narrowing? Focusing on the micro-level, is it possible to argue that management tools can lead to effective results as ownership and empowerment of project beneficiaries? Our concern is that even if the "human" approach is considerably more attentive to the social dimension of development, issues of global wealth and distribution of power are still to be addressed by development policies.