Content

Key Concepts

Definition

History

Degree

Scope of Action

Project Cycle
Management

Methods

Approaches to
Participation

Rapid Rural
Appraisal

Participatory Rural
Appraisal

Participatory Action Research

Principles, Attitudes

Participatory
Project Cycle
Management

Type of Participatory
Projects

Application of participatory tools in the different project stages

Sector Specific Use
of Participatory Tools

List of Documents

Exercises

Strong or weak
participation

Stakeholder analysis

Definition

Many development agencies are now making explicit statements on what they understand by participation and such statements are instrumental in determining strategy and methodology.

The Informal Working Group on Participatory Approaches and Methods to Support Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security (IWG-PA), which is responsible for this website and based in the FAO Rural Institutions and Participation Service (SDAR) of the Rural Development Division (SDA). define participation in development as:

A process of equitable and active involvement of all stakeholders in the formulation of development policies and strategies and in the analysis, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development activities. To allow for a more equitable development process, disadvantaged stakeholders need to be empowered to increase their level of knowledge, influence and control over their own livelihoods, including development initiatives affecting them.

Participation’ as a concept is however a contested subject. The World Bank Participation Sourcebook (1998) defines participation as, “… a rich concept that means different things to different people in different settings. For some, it is a matter or principle; for others, a practice and for still others, an end in itself.” There is no one comprehensive definition that describes how participation works in development. The definition depends on the approaches of the development organisation and their capacity to implement participatory approaches.

Since the late 1970s there has been a range of interpretations of the meaning of participation in development. The following are a number of examples: 

'With regard to rural development . . . participation includes people's involvement in decision-making processes, in implementing programmes, their sharing in the benefits of development programmes and their involvement in efforts to evaluate such programmes.' (Cohen and Uphoff, 1977) 

Participation is concerned with . . . the organised efforts to increase control over resources and regulative institutions in given social situations on the part of groups and movements of those hitherto excluded from such control.' (Pearse and Stifel, 1979)  

'Community participation [is] an active process by which beneficiary or client groups influence the direction and execution of a development project with a view of enhancing their well-being in terms of income, personal growth, self-reliance or other values they cherish.' (Paul, 1987)  

'Participation can be seen as a process of empowerment of the deprived and the excluded. This view is based on the  recognition of differences in political and economic power among different social groups and classes. Participation in this sense necessitates the creation of organisations of the poor which are democratic, independent and self- reliant!' (Ghai, 1990)  

'Participatory development stands for partnership which is built upon the basis of dialogue among the various actors, during which the agenda is jointly set, and local views and indigenous knowledge are deliberately sought and respected. This implies negotiation rather than the dominance of an externally set project agenda. Thus people become actors instead of being beneficiaries.' (OECD, 1994) 

'Participation is a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives and the decisions and resources which affect them.' (World Bank, 1994) 

The above reflect the broad nature of a process of participation and the fact that interpretation is linked to an agency's development perspective. There are, therefore, no universal interpretations or models of participation applicable to all development programmes and projects. Cohen and Uphoff's interpretation has had a major influence in terms of identifying the key-stages of the project cycle in which participation could occur: decision-making, implementation, benefits and evaluation.

In a different way Pearse and Stiefel's interpretation has been similarly influential in suggesting a more structural and political role for participation and not one simply linked to development practice. Both of these interpretations set the tone in the 1980s for a considerable body of participatory practice, which evolved in the 1990s into the notion of stakeholding.

Source: UNDP Empowering People:  A Guide to Participation