Multiple Developments: Intergenerational Aspiration and Contested Childhoods in a Delhi NGO

In slum communities in Delhi, India, aspirations typically transcend individual lifespans, with children regarded as both the beneficiaries and means of achieving their family’s goals of development. Yet these children, and the familial projects of development they carry with them, meet a range of institutionalised and formalised concepts of development in the space of the local NGOs that increasingly surround their community. This article explores what happens when multiple traditions of development come together, describing the ways children, their parents, and NGO workers navigate the very different values, histories and collectivities that ground their aspirations. Specifically, by focusing on development organisations that seek to engage children through extra-curricular activities, this article ethnographically explores both the value/values and dangers associated with this form of development.