Peer-reviewed article
Meaning-making in community-directed interventions: A social capital theory perspective from the post-conflict Northern Uganda Youth Livelihood Programme
Benard Cankara, James Mugisha, Elizabeth Kyazike ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This qualitative study looks at how young people in Kitgum District, post-conflict Northern Uganda, understood the Youth Livelihood Programme. It used focus group discussions with former beneficiaries and in-depth interviews with key informants. The youth formed their own informal meanings of the programme, shaped by existing community social capital, which differed from the official meaning. The authors conclude that policy actors should pay attention to these locally constructed meanings to make implementation more effective.
Key points
- Research on meaning-making in development policy is scarce.
- Youth constructed several meanings of the programme, including 'free money', 'pocket money from the President' and 'drinking money'.
- Other meanings included perceived political motives, 'loot without fear', 'money for the community poorest people' and 'our tax money being returned'.
- Official programme meanings are not automatically reproduced in the community; informal meanings are rebuilt through social interaction using existing social capital, leading to meaning displacement.
- Overlooking local meanings has consequences for programme legitimacy, participation and effectiveness.
Limitations
The abstract does not report sample size, participant ages or how many people held each view. It describes perceptions in one district and cannot show whether the programme improved youth livelihoods or outcomes.
Abstract
Research on meaning-making in development policy is scarce, yet essential for contextualizing development interventions. The study demonstrates that policy implementation in post-conflict situations is vulnerable to meaning displacement when locally constructed meanings and the social capital through which they are produced and circulated are overlooked, with consequential effects for programme legitimacy, participation and effectiveness. A phenomenological research design adopting focus group discussions with former beneficiaries of the Youth Livelihood Programme and in-depth interviews with key informants was conducted in Kitgum District. The study used a content thematic analysis based on descriptive phenomenology to analyse the data. The findings indicate that the youth constructed several meanings and perceptions of the Youth Livelihood Programme, including (i) perceived political meanings, (ii) free money perception, (iii) pocket money from the President meaning, (iv) drinking money narrative, (v) loot without fear perception, (vi) the mimic perception “money for the community poorest people”, and (vii) our tax money being returned perception. In conclusion, as community-directed interventions enter the community with an official, formal meaning, these meanings are not automatically reproduced at the community level. Instead, informal meanings are socially reconstructed through interactions building on existing community social capital, resulting in meaning displacement. Thus, development policy actors ought to pay attention to socially constructed meanings in order to align programme and make policy adjustments required for effective policy implementation.