Building organisational vehicles for smallholder-led agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract Civil society organisations play numerous key roles in governing and practically enacting sustainable development. For rural development this importantly includes farmer-based organisations, which among other things can represent and amplify farmers’ voices. In sub-Saharan Africa, small-scale farmers in particular lack organisational vehicles for political influence. This study analyses an attempt to rectify this: the organisation ESAFF (Eastern and Southern African Small scale Farmers Forum) Uganda. Combining desk-based research and fieldwork, we examine its trajectory from the early 2000s to the present, guided by a typology of civil society actors. Although ESAFF Uganda can be characterised as an NGO, its potential is expanded by also operating as an alliance of social organisations. It furthermore has taken steps to become a social movement organisation, much due to the restrictive political landscape that discourages open contestation but fosters coalition-building. A major strength of such ‘straddling of types’ is the combination of grassroots reach with communication and resource mobilisation capacities. Even so, routinisation, projectification and lack of control over resource distribution remain pitfalls of NGOisation, requiring creative counterstrategies. The case underscores the importance of studying actually existing civil society and ways to foster grassroots-level agency also within NGOs. While it is unwise to sharply delineate between civil society formations, the analytical distinction helps to clarify strategic choices that civil society actors must consider when aspiring for transformative change.