Maktens närvaro i biståndsarbete : En kvalitativ fallstudie av anställdas maktposition vid Act Svenska kyrkan

Sammanfattning: Exercising power is unavoidable in aid work because donors convey money to grant recipients. Exercising power is therefore part of aid work and something donors and recipients must relateto. The need to create a more equal relationship between donor and recipient has been a recurring issue in aid work and an important part of the aid decolonization process. This qualitativecase study examines how employees at Act Church of Swedens Africa unit interpret and relateto its position of power in partnership relations. The essay also examines if employees at Act Church of Sweden can identify whether power discourse affects recipient organisations' stanceon equality issues. The essay is based on a postcolonial theory that was formed using the concepts of paternalism and power, colonial discourse, partnership discourse and discourse in thespirit of Maria Eriksson Baaz (2005) and Ania Loomba (2008). The theory functions as apatchwork when using Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis because the conceptsare often sewn and patched together in the form of Fairclough's three-dimensional model as ananalysis tool. Norman Fairclough's method is used to analyze text, discursive practice and social practice. The result establishes informants' interpretations and approach to legitimatepower, above all based on its job description where exercising power is a "natural" part of theprogram manager's duties, since a significant part of the work involves donors conveying money to recipients. Regarding the informants' position of power, the focus has been on how thepromotion of shifting power is described and how it should be done. Relevant concepts for thepractical process of shifting power are the way Act Church of Sweden work according to ahuman rights-based approach, capacity development, local ownership, working more locally, information sharing and the reorgansation that came into force in early 2023. Regarding employees' interpretation of whether partners adapt in their approach to gender equality and health,informants state that it depends on the local context. Partners generally adapt because they genuinely have a similar view of gender equality and health as Act Church of Sweden. Or if they do not have the same view the employees would not certainly know. The constant paradox inthe analysis of power relations within aid is something that manifests itself when looking atpower relations in a larger perspective. Because employees both within Act Church of Sweden, back donors and recipient organisations are part of power hierarchies in themselves.