IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2014i10p7388-7411d41537.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Civil Society in Hybrid Governance: Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Legitimacy in Mediating Wal-Mart’s Local Produce Supply Chains in Honduras

Author

Listed:
  • J. Dara Bloom

    (Department of Youth, Family, and Community Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7606, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA)

Abstract

This paper challenges the notion that the incorporation of actors from civil society into hybrid governance arrangements improves outcomes and legitimacy. Multi-stakeholder collaborations are a popular hybrid governance approach to development, including NGOs’ work to integrate smallholder farmers into supermarket supply chains. As a result, NGOs’ service provision role has expanded to include market facilitation, often necessitating NGOs act as market intermediaries. This paper explores how this new role may jeopardize NGOs’ organizational legitimacy in the eyes of their constituents, other development organizations, and supermarket partners, and therefore ultimately affect their ability to represent civil society in hybrid governance arrangements. Drawing on qualitative data collected in the Central American country of Honduras, this paper focuses on NGOs’ role organizing producer associations to facilitate access to Wal-Mart supermarkets. Findings suggest that a lack of supply chain transparency, NGOs’ negotiation between commercial and aid-oriented goals, and the potential to exclude producers from development projects threaten NGOs’ legitimacy. These findings illustrate the difficulties of embedding philanthropic activities in market-based systems, and demonstrate how multi-stakeholder collaborations may be influenced more by commercial priorities than the elements of a partnership. Ultimately, development NGOs are products of neoliberal, hybrid governance, even as their activities are expected to ease the transition of small-scale producers into this system.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Dara Bloom, 2014. "Civil Society in Hybrid Governance: Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Legitimacy in Mediating Wal-Mart’s Local Produce Supply Chains in Honduras," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-24, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:10:p:7388-7411:d:41537
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/10/7388/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/10/7388/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lone Riisgaard & Simon Bolwig & Stefano Ponte & Andries du Toit & Niels Halberg & Frank Matose, 2010. "Integrating Poverty and Environmental Concerns into Value-Chain Analysis: A Strategic Framework and Practical Guide," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 28(2), pages 195-216, March.
    2. James McCarthy, 2005. "Devolution in the Woods: Community Forestry as Hybrid Neoliberalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(6), pages 995-1014, June.
    3. Anne Tallontire & Maggie Opondo & Valerie Nelson & Adrienne Martin, 2011. "Beyond the vertical? Using value chains and governance as a framework to analyse private standards initiatives in agri-food chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(3), pages 427-441, September.
    4. Spencer Henson, 2011. "Private agrifood governance: conclusions, observations and provocations," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(3), pages 443-451, September.
    5. Berdegue, Julio A. & Balsevich, Fernando & Flores, Luis & Reardon, Thomas, 2005. "Central American supermarkets' private standards of quality and safety in procurement of fresh fruits and vegetables," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 254-269, June.
    6. Lucy H. Ford, 2003. "Challenging Global Environmental Governance: Social Movement Agency and Global Civil Society," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 3(2), pages 120-134, May.
    7. Korten, David C., 1987. "Third generation NGO strategies: A key to people-centered development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 15(1, Supple), pages 145-159.
    8. Ananya Reed & Darryl Reed, 2009. "Partnerships for Development: Four Models of Business Involvement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 3-37, May.
    9. Verena Bitzer & Pieter Glasbergen & Bas Arts, 2013. "Exploring the potential of intersectoral partnerships to improve the position of farmers in global agrifood chains: findings from the coffee sector in Peru," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(1), pages 5-20, March.
    10. Simon Bolwig & Stefano Ponte & Andries du Toit & Lone Riisgaard & Niels Halberg, 2010. "Integrating Poverty and Environmental Concerns into Value-Chain Analysis: A Conceptual Framework," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 28(2), pages 173-194, March.
    11. David L. Deephouse & Suzanne M. Carter, 2005. "An Examination of Differences Between Organizational Legitimacy and Organizational Reputation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 329-360, March.
    12. Markelova, Helen & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Hellin, Jon & Dohrn, Stephan, 2009. "Collective action for smallholder market access," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-7, February.
    13. Doris Fuchs & Agni Kalfagianni & Tetty Havinga, 2011. "Actors in private food governance: the legitimacy of retail standards and multistakeholder initiatives with civil society participation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(3), pages 353-367, September.
    14. Bitzer, Verena, 2012. "Partnering for Change in Chains: the Capacity of Partnerships to Promote Sustainable Change in Global Agrifood Chains," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(B), pages 1-25, December.
    15. Robert Falkner, 2003. "Private Environmental Governance and International Relations: Exploring the Links," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 3(2), pages 72-87, May.
    16. Vakil, Anna C., 1997. "Confronting the classification problem: Toward a taxonomy of NGOs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 2057-2070, December.
    17. Atack, Iain, 1999. "Four Criteria of Development NGO Legitimacy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 855-864, May.
    18. Bingen, Jim & Serrano, Alex & Howard, Julie, 2003. "Linking farmers to markets: different approaches to human capital development," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 405-419, August.
    19. Bebbington, Anthony, 1997. "New states, new NGOs? crises and transitions among rural development NGOs in the Andean region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(11), pages 1755-1765, November.
    20. Catia Gregoratti, 2011. "Global nuts and local mangoes: a critical reading of the UNDP Growing Sustainable Business Initiative in Kenya," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(3), pages 369-383, September.
    21. Pepijn Schreinemachers & Iven Schad & Prasnee Tipraqsa & Pakakrong Williams & Andreas Neef & Suthathip Riwthong & Walaya Sangchan & Christian Grovermann, 2012. "Can public GAP standards reduce agricultural pesticide use? The case of fruit and vegetable farming in northern Thailand," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(4), pages 519-529, December.
    22. Narrod, Clare & Roy, Devesh & Okello, Julius & Avendaño, Belem & Rich, Karl & Thorat, Amit, 2009. "Public-private partnerships and collective action in high value fruit and vegetable supply chains," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 8-15, February.
    23. Ponte, Stefano, 2008. "Greener than Thou: The Political Economy of Fish Ecolabeling and Its Local Manifestations in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 159-175, January.
    24. Reardon, Thomas & Barrett, Christopher B. & Berdegué, Julio A. & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2009. "Agrifood Industry Transformation and Small Farmers in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 1717-1727, November.
    25. Reardon, Thomas & Timmer, C. Peter, 2007. "Transformation of Markets for Agricultural Output in Developing Countries Since 1950: How Has Thinking Changed?," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 55, pages 2807-2855, Elsevier.
    26. Hellin, Jon & Lundy, Mark & Meijer, Madelon, 2009. "Farmer organization, collective action and market access in Meso-America," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 16-22, February.
    27. Douglas Constance & Alessandro Bonanno, 2000. "Regulating the global fisheries: The World Wildlife Fund, Unilever, and the Marine Stewardship Council," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 17(2), pages 125-139, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deborah Martens & Annelien Gansemans & Jan Orbie & Marijke D'Haese, 2018. "Trade Unions in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: What Shapes Their Participation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-27, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Verena Bitzer & Pieter Glasbergen & Bas Arts, 2013. "Exploring the potential of intersectoral partnerships to improve the position of farmers in global agrifood chains: findings from the coffee sector in Peru," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(1), pages 5-20, March.
    2. Sara D. Elder, 2019. "The impact of supermarket supply chain governance on smallholder farmer cooperatives: the case of Walmart in Nicaragua," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 213-224, June.
    3. Daniel Tobin & Mark Brennan & Rama Radhakrishna, 2016. "Food access and pro-poor value chains: a community case study in the central highlands of Peru," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 895-909, December.
    4. Arato, Miguel & Spellman, Stijn & Dessein, Joost & van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2016. "Assessment of socio-economic configuration of value chains: a proposed analysis framework to facilitate integration of small rural producers with global agribusiness," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 20(1), October.
    5. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2011. "Smallholder Farmers and Collective Action: What Determines the Intensity of Participation?," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114354, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Thorpe, Jodie, 2018. "Procedural Justice in Value Chains Through Public–private Partnerships," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 162-175.
    7. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2011. "Smallholder Farmers and Collective Action: What Determines the Intensity of Participation?," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 108551, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    8. Kirui, Oliver K., 2013. "Drivers of Collective Action and the Welfare Gains of such Initiatives among smallholder farmers: Experiences from Kenya," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161619, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    9. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2011. "Smallholder Farmers and Collective Action: What Determines the Intensity of Participation?," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin 2011 28, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    10. Thomas Vetter & Marianne Nylandsted Larsen & Thilde Bech Bruun, 2019. "Supermarket-Led Development and the Neglect of Traditional Food Value Chains: Reflections on Indonesia’s Agri-Food System Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Arouna Dissa & Jos Bijman & Maja Slingerland & Ousmane Mama Sanogo & Ken E Giller & Katrien Descheemaeker, 2022. "Growing cotton to produce food: Unravelling interactions between value chains in southern Mali," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(5), September.
    12. Bitzer, Verena, 2012. "Partnering for Change in Chains: the Capacity of Partnerships to Promote Sustainable Change in Global Agrifood Chains," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(B), pages 1-25, December.
    13. Ebata, Ayako & Hüttel, Silke, 2015. "Do development projects link smallholders to markets?," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 204326, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    14. Pavel Castka & Charles J. Corbett, 2016. "Governance of Eco-Labels: Expert Opinion and Media Coverage," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 309-326, May.
    15. Delelegne Abera Tefera & Jos Bijman & Maja Slingerland & Gerben Velde & Onno Omta, 2020. "Quality Improvement in African Food Supply Chains: Determinants of Farmer Performance," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 152-175, January.
    16. Valerie Nelson & Anne Tallontire, 2014. "Battlefields of ideas: changing narratives and power dynamics in private standards in global agricultural value chains," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 481-497, September.
    17. Tray, Bunthan & Garnevska, Elena & Shadbolt, Nicola, 2021. "Linking smallholder producers to high-value markets through vegetable producer cooperatives in Cambodia," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 24(6), February.
    18. Ola, Oreoluwa & Menapace, Luisa, 2020. "A meta-analysis understanding smallholder entry into high-value markets," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    19. Bagchi, Niladri Sekhar & Mishra, Pulak & Behera, Bhagirath, 2021. "Value chain development for linking land-constrained farmers to markets: Experience from two selected villages of West Bengal, India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    20. Nguyen Thi Nha Trang & Thanh-Thuy Nguyen & Hong V. Pham & Thi Thu Anh Cao & Thu Huong Trinh Thi & Javad Shahreki, 2022. "Impacts of Collaborative Partnership on the Performance of Cold Supply Chains of Agriculture and Foods: Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-28, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:10:p:7388-7411:d:41537. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.