In recent years development work has shifted from a top-down approach to a bottom-up approach. While sometimes this is rhetoric, there is also a recognition that participation (and preferably initiation) by the community is essential to an effective project.
This approach is more costly and time-consuming, but is also more cost-effective as it gives much better and longer-lasting results.
Participatory rural appraisal[edit | edit source]
Participatory rural appraisal is a term describing the incorporation of the knowledge and opinions of rural people in the planning and management of development projects and programs. Robert Chambers, a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (UK),[1] has written on this topic, and it is described in the World Bank Participation Sourcebook.[2]
The Institute of Development Studies explains that it builds on rapid rural appraisal (RRA),[1][2] and highlights five central additional concepts and three dangers and drawbacks.[1] The five central additional concepts are
- Empowerment
- Respect
- Localization
- Enjoyment - the emphasis is no longer on being "rapid" but on the process.
- Inclusiveness
Dangers and drawbacks
- "Hijacking" - being used to create legitimacy for an external party.
- Formalism - an abrupt and exploitative approach is common where there is a deadline to meet.
- Disappointment - when expectations are raised and nothing tangible emerges.
See the Wikipedia article for more information and links.
See also Wikipedia:Participatory rural appraisal
Three caveats[edit | edit source]
Three warnings regarding participation:[3]
- Participation is not a panacea, and does not suit every circumstance. The mother of a child dying of diarrhea does not want to "participate".
- Beware of manipulation - conscious or unconscious, e.g. when a "participatory social communicator" has preconceived ideas.
- Remember the opportunity cost - villagers do not have endless free time, and may be giving up time on productive work in order to participate.
Community power in Turkmenistan[edit | edit source]
- In Turkmenistan's Karra Kum desert, one of the themes to emerge from early participatory video work was a strong local desire for electricity to improve people's lifestyles and enable them to stay in the desert. Participatory video is again being used as a tool for documenting the challenges and decision-making processes involved in the community-led installation of solar power within different shepherding villages. The solar panels are neither sold nor given to the communities; instead, villagers decided that each family should exchange one ewe and one female lamb for their solar lighting system - these animals become the collective property of the village and are used as a "community action fund"...[4]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 See the IIDS page Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA).
- ↑ Participatory Rural Appraisal. Collaborative Decisionmaking: Community-Based Method. (From The World Bank Participation Sourcebook, Appendix I: Methods and Tools.
- ↑ based on Participatory Communication for Development, 2004, citing White, S.A. (1994). "The concept of participation: transforming rhetoric to reality" in White, S.A. et al (1994) Participatory communication: working for change and development. New Delhi, India: Sage Publications. p.18
- ↑ from The Communication Initiative's newsletter, Environment & Communication - DB Click, October 31 2006. For more, see Programme Experiences: Solar Power = Community Power - Turkmenistan, 2006
See also[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
- Wikipedia:Participation (decision making)
- Wikipedia:Orangi Pilot Project
- The World Bank Participation Sourcebook (archived web pages, via Archive.org)
- Communities Empowerment
- Spotting Community Ownership and Sorry but it's not YOUR project which contains a useful community participation ladder on how-matters.org
- Links & resources on working with community-based organizations on how-matters.org
- The Poor philanthropist: how and why the poor help each other, research monograph and tools to value in-kind contributions from community members
- Community action and the test of time: Learning from community experiences and perceptions, case studies of community mobilization and capacity building to benefit vulnerable children in Malawi and Zambia