PT Unknown
AU Bliss Prof. Dr., F
   Neumann, S
TI Participation in International Development Discourse and Practice: "State of the Art" and Challenges
SE INEF-Report
PY 2008
IS 94
DI 10.17185/duepublico/26915
LA en
AB Participation has become one of the most important buzzwords in the international
development discourse since at least the middle of the 1990s. In the same way as older key
terms such as gender and socio‐cultural conditions of development, or new concepts such as
good governance and ownership, the increasing claims for participation (of target groups, of
beneficiaries, of stake‐holders etc.) are usually accompanied by a critical assessment of previous
development cooperation which needs to be improved by stronger, more comprehensive or
target‐oriented participation. However, this positive connotation of participation shared by
almost all actors in the field is increasingly challenged through critical remarks forwarded by
theoreticians and practitioners alike.
In this article the authors provide a critical overview of the dimensions and meanings of
“participation” for different actors and in different contexts, and they summarize and analyze
the current controversy surrounding the concept and its implementation. One important
finding is that in many development programmes (from the project level to sector‐wide
approaches) and Poverty Reduction Strategy processes, participation is seen and implemented
in a functional and utilitarian way to achieve predefined objectives, and not as a tool for
empowerment. The same holds for the actors from bilateral and multilateral aid agencies,
including many Nongovernmental Organisations.
From this review current challenges of participation and development are derived and
discussed, including key issues such as legitimacy and representation of various groups of
stakeholders, participation and decentralisation, participation and civil society, participation
and the poor, and participation and conflict.
ER