Collaborations in Faith: NGO Development Policies in Northern Argentina

Abstract

Faced with images of corrupt, authoritarian, and ineffective Latin American states, some NGOs have managed to establish themselves as efficient and flexible organizations, guardians of the “common good.” Appealing to a techno-moral language and interweaving a political-legal vocabulary with moral judgments, some NGOs in Latin America have found an appropriate field in the development processes involving agents located in different local, national, and transnational domains. This field of interactions becomes especially interesting to analyze regarding how local processes intertwine with global agendas. This work aims to shed light on the interconnections between different local and transnational players in the construction of a development political culture. We aim to understand different aspects defining the collaborative relationships and tensions between local denominational NGOs and denominational international cooperation agencies. With this interest, and from an ethnographic approach, a political process of alliance between NGOs of denominational origin is analyzed within the framework of a land restitution process in the region of Pilcomayo, province of Salta, Argentina. The process was marked by the position of different players: Fundapaz, Asociana, Misereor and Pan para el mundo [Bread for the World]. This work shows how a context of collaboration and tension interactions and relationships was shaped from the perspective of one of the NGOs that played a leading role in the process.