Participatory development : some perspectives from grass-roots experiences

Abstract

In recent years, especially since the early 1970s, there has been an increasing interest in participatory approaches to development. This interest is manifested both at the national and international levels and appears to be shared by individuals and institutions of widely divergent ideologies and backgrounds. At the international level, most multilateral and bilateral agencies have recognized the importance of participation both as means and as an objective of development. Likewise, national plans in many countries pay great deal of attention to the need for participatory pattern of development. However, as tends to happen in situations of this sort; this growing consensus owes much to certain ambiguities in the concept of participation. Different authors and organizations give different interpretations to this concept. Often these differences are reflection of differences over the concept of development itself.