The ‘Local Aid Worker 2.0'

Are profit-making institutions and instruments in aid reshaping common divides and flattening hierarchies between development practitioners from donor- and recipient countries? There are indications of this. This chapter describes how Kenyan experts in DFIs and consulting firms present alternatives to key attributes of local aid workers found among those employed by NGOs and state aid agencies, which are the two institutional realms in which local development practitioners are usually studied. They illustrate how development finance and contracting in aid are diversifying the roles, expertise and labor conditions of local development practitioners. The chapter highlights three examples of this, pertaining to local professionals' formal rank and career advancement, job security, and the meaning, scope and use of ‘local knowledge'.