Social Networks, Resources, and International NGOs in Postwar Sierra Leone

The wages paid to local employees by international NGOs and the grants given to community organizations are an understudied aspect of the effect of aid on war-affected countries. In this article, I explore how wages and grants become part of social networks in Makeni, in northern Sierra Leone, and argue that cash infusions cause tension within networks and between payees and INGOs because organizations refuse to “inflate” wages and grants, and yet recipients suffer extreme poverty and support vast social networks. INGOs do not want to pay more than the earnings of low-level civil servants, though popular perception is that they can and should. Community-based organizations also begin their activities by repaying debts, giving them limited life spans and limited trust in communities. These tensions contribute to perceptions of hoarding, which adversely affects the willingness of residents to cooperate with INGO programs and may hasten program failure.