Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Community Participation
Community Participation
Both the Central as well as State governments are now stepping into adopt the
participatory or community-driven approaches in resource management.
The new paradigm stresses the involvement of local people in contrast to the
top-down paradigm, which tends to dominate management of resources at the
local level.
The objective of this participation is to create opportunities to enable all
the members of a community and the larger society to actively contribute
to, and influence, the development process in order to share the fruits of
development equitably.
International development agencies like the World Bank, the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), and the Food and Agricultural Organisation
(FAO) propose decentralisation as the main approach to fighting
improper distribution of resources and circumventing the shortcomings
of a state-directed resource distribution.
People’s participation in the decision making process is an important
component of decentralisation. Planners involved in policy formulation and
delivery of community-based services are becoming increasingly interested in
promoting the participation of local people.
Levels of participation
Typology of participation
Forms / levels of participation Characteristic features
Nominal Membership in the group
Passive Being informed of decisions ex
post facto; or attending meetings
and listening in on decision
making without speaking up
Consultative Being asked an opinion in specific
matters without guarantee of
influencing decisions
Active specific Being asked to undertake specific
tasks
Active and Interactive Expressing opinions, whether or
not asked, or taking initiatives of
other sorts
Interactive (Empowering) Having voice and influence in the
group’s decisions
Community Participation
Community participation occurs when a community organizes itself and takes responsibility for
managing its problems. Taking responsibility includes identifying the problems, developing
actions, putting them into place, and following through.