The Quest for Impact

Abstract

The cumulative effect of all intervention, understood in its widest sense, provides the external conditions of the dynamics of African Agrarian societies. The quest for impact of development and humanitarian intervention complements the quest for resources (mineral, natural, and agricultural) for which outflows have to be organised, while at the same time trying to stem the outflows of human beings (and encouraging backflows of migrants and remittances). The resulting triple impact leads to the assisted self-destruction of many African societies manifest in the fields of production, socialisation and self-organisation. Important parts of African studies, unfortunately, are still dominated by analytical perspectives which accompany specific interventions, (be that policies, programmes or projects) or look only at specific sectors. This is like trying to analyse a game of chess by just looking at one or two pieces. This is damaging as well as dangerous, especially if other actors play Go.