IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jdevst/v62y2026i5p721-736.html

Truth in Translation: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Everyday Practices of Monitoring in a Senegalese Sustainable Development NGO

Author

Listed:
  • Mathilde Gouin-Bonenfant

Abstract

This article, based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Saloum Delta, in Senegal, investigates the relationship between Results-Based Management (RBM) and the difficulties, faced by many NGOs, to understand the needs and desires of the communities with whom they work. The article follows the day-to-day monitoring practices of one sustainable development NGO, and highlights the influence of RBM on the possibility of ‘knowing the truth.’ The article shows how the culture, language, and tools of RBM impact the ecosystem of relationships surrounding the NGO, creating a culture rooted in evidence production, justification, and suspicion. By taking an interactional and linguistic approach, the article also shows the limits and possibilities of producing coherence and success within monitoring activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathilde Gouin-Bonenfant, 2026. "Truth in Translation: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Everyday Practices of Monitoring in a Senegalese Sustainable Development NGO," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(5), pages 721-736, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:62:y:2026:i:5:p:721-736
    DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2025.2569390
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00220388.2025.2569390
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00220388.2025.2569390?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:jdevst:v:62:y:2026:i:5:p:721-736. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/FJDS20 .

    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.