Community participation in development
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.
Three caveats
Three warnings regarding participation:[1]
- 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
- 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"...[2]
Links
- Wikipedia:Participation (decision making)
- Wikipedia:Orangi Pilot Project
- The World Bank Participation Sourcebook
References
- ↑ based on [1] 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