In Cape Town’s informal settlements, the difficulties of living without permanent housing or basic services are compounded by frustrations of waiting for this development—a waiting permeated by the engagement of residents in political and social actions calling for fulfillment of promised development. In this article, I examine the involvement of informal settlement residents within an NGO-coordinated, state-funded participatory development project. I explore how the concept of capacity-building was mobilized within the project, and, ultimately, how it rationalized the uncertainties of bureaucratic processes and the experience of waiting for development. Actors seeking to create development were enlisted to make sense of—and effectively normalize—the experiences of waiting, even against their organizational or personal perspectives. I conclude with a discussion of how these findings can inform praxis, suggesting that development practitioners are responsible to make visible the power dynamics surrounding their own position within projects and should use their platforms to highlight the extant knowledge and skills of the communities with whom they work.

中文翻译：

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“发展之路任重道远”：开普敦非正式定居点的能力和时间导航

在开普敦的非正规住区，没有永久住房或基本服务的生活困难因等待这一发展的挫败感而更加复杂——居民参与政治和社会行动，要求实现承诺的发展。在本文中，我研究了非政府组织协调、国家资助的参与式发展项目中非正规住区居民的参与。我探讨了如何在项目中动员能力建设的概念，以及最终如何使官僚程序的不确定性和等待发展的经验合理化。寻求创造发展的参与者被招募来理解并有效地规范等待的经历，即使违背他们的组织或个人观点。