Hybridity, consulting and e-development in the making: inscribing new practices of impact assessment and value management

This paper examines critically the changes taking place in the e-development sector, and, specifically, investigates the ways in which private sector information and communication technology (ICT)-led organizations may be implicated in shaping such changes. We report on a research into a multi-national ICT consultancy company which is developing their own offering in the domain of value management and performance management for the development sector. We situate this initiative within the development literature that has charted the changing role of donors and non-government organizations (NGOs). Drawing on actor-network theory, we argue that, with the deployment of value management techniques, upstream donors are becoming a more central feature of NGOs' preoccupations and activities. We provide an in-depth analysis of the renegotiation of the e-development network, and argue that e-development can be understood as a hybrid practice. The paper concludes with implications and suggestions for further research.