Community-driven development is indelible in the development landscape. It is increasingly visible in the policy design of many governments, nongovernmental organizations, and multilateral institutions and features in important debates involving democracy, governance, institutions, and decentralization. As this research report points out, this has philosophical and instrumentalist underpinnings, with participation as both means and end. Participatory or community-driven development is advocated on the basis that, among other advantages, it can reduce information problems for development planners and beneficiaries, increase the resources available to poor people, and strengthen the capacity for collective action among poor and other marginalized societal... |