Contextualisation of Human Rights Discourse by NGO Workers in the Context of Bangladesh

Abstract

This article explores the particular understanding and practice of a human rights‐based approach (HRBA) in ActionAid Bangladesh, drawing on 28 interviews and 35 documents. Employing thematic analysis, it identifies changes in ActionAid Bangladesh's HRBA influenced by the organisational and national contexts and by the role of development practitioners. The changes are conceptualised as the product of ‘internalisation’, non‐governmental organisation workers' building understanding of and commitment to a HRBA, and ‘contextualisation’, their shaping the HRBA to fit organisational and national contexts. This paper argues the importance of human agency for discourse change, noting the influence of contexts on both agency and discourse. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.