This book addresses, for the first time, the question of how development
NGOs attempt to 'listen' to communities in linguistically diverse
environments. NGOs are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that
they 'listen' to the people and communities that they are trying to
serve, but this can be an immensely challenging task where there are
significant language and cultural differences. However, until now, there
has been no systematic study of the role of foreign languages in
development work. The authors present findings based on interviews with
a wide range of NGO staff and government officials, NGO archives, and
observations of NGO-community interaction in country case studies. They
suggest ways in which NGOs can reform their language policies to listen
to the recipients of aid more effectively.