Education Programme Creation and Policy Articulation in International Development NGOs: A Critical Realist Assemblage Analysis

International non-governments organisations (INGOs) occupy an important position within the global education policy and international development ecosystem. They are present at and exert influence at multiple levels, helping to shape global policy agendas while also directly implementing policy through their on-the-ground programming. However, they are also subject to geopolitical shifts in demands, norms, concepts, and approaches. These shifts are frequently epistemically driven by major players in this ecosystem – international organisations such as the World Bank, the OECD, and UNESCO, as well as donor organisations. Due to their positioning, in between states and donors, and the comparatively smaller amount of influence they hold in re-forming these shifts, they often struggle to adapt their internal policy and programme making to the changes. At the same time, they compete with cognate organisations to differentiate themselves in what has now become an INGO marketplace. Despite the important position they occupy, comparatively little research has been conducted on the INGOs that position themselves in this ecosystem. The aforementioned dominant organisations are frequent subjects for research, while newer entrants, such as philanthrocapitalists, are also receiving increased attention. This means there is a paucity in our understanding of how INGOs internally operate and how they adapt to competing internal and external demands. This study addresses this lacuna in the research through a critical case study of the internal activities of Plan International Ireland. The case is seen as an exemplar from which generalised findings can be drawn. In order to aid the investigation, a bespoke theoretical framework, combining critical realism and assemblage theory, is applied to the case. This framework enables an investigation of the various conceptual shifts in policy while being cognisant of the deeper, underlying structural factors at play. The investigation reveals a degree of incoherence in policy and programme making that is overcome through a de-politicising process driven by managerialist logic. This smooths out disagreements or inconsistencies in policy understanding and provides a veneer of consistency. At the same time, the telos of policy and programming, driven by external realignments towards the psychological, has moved inwards, aiming to shape the form of the self within the participants of Plan’s programming. Through a process of managed transformation, this has resulted in a desire to reveal an inner self that accords with the logic of universalised human rights and therapeutic norms. This represents a radical departure from previous goals of education and development programming, but one which is in keeping with global vagaries.