Islands of success – how to make development projects work in challenging contexts

In this project, we approach the overarching question of challenges to small scale development projects in difficult contexts; that is contexts in which corruption and clientelism are prevalent and generalized trust is low. We pay particular attention to the role of local participation in development projects. The purpose is twofold: First, we will study how such contexts pose challenges for development projects. Although we know a great deal about how these factors affect development, we know surprisingly little about the specific challenges they bring to development projects. Second, we will identify viable strategies for institution building within development projects implemented in difficult institutional contexts. Empirically, we study development projects working with community electrification in rural Tanzania.