Resources: participatory approaches

Guidelines on participation in rural development

Van Heck, B., 2003, Participatory development: guidelines on beneficiary participation in agricultural and rural development, FAO.

This manual provides suggestions on how to incorporate beneficiary participation in agricultural and rural development projects, while stimulating reflection on what participation is in development practice, on how it can mean different things, on its benefits and its constraints.

After a chapter discussing ways to support effective participation, by ensuring political will and sensitizing governments, promoting policy dialogues, promoting people’s involvement in larger projects and increasing overall support for their involvement, the guide focuses more in detail on various steps which are essential to achieve effective participation itself. In particular, the author provides suggestions on how to identify key areas to intervene in, poor rural people and beneficiary needs. He then moves on to talk about the importance of building on existing groups and organisations, as well as promoting the formation of new ones, referring to what may encourage or discourage the formation of bonds between community members. Ideas to set up income generating and social activities and saving schemes which groups could be involved in are presented, as well as advice on participatory training to improve the social and economic conditions of the poor, and to make groups more active and cohesive. The guide includes a discussion on the cost/benefit analysis of ensuring beneficiaries’ participation, as well as a discussion on the importance of action research and survey administration to identify the best ways to design and implement participatory projects, keeping contextual factors into consideration.

A list of participatory projects supported by FAO in the nineties, a list of useful readings and some schemes summarising how to ensure participation during all the phases of the program cycle conclude the manual.

© 2009 People and Development.