Improving the quality of people's participation in development projects

This case study examines the participation of people in project planning and implementation in Sonebhadra district in Uttar Pradesh. It focuses on a development project, which was started in 1994 by Jan Jati Vikas Samiti (a local voluntary agency) in partnership with Action Aid. The objective of the study is to ascertain reasons for the participation and non participation of local people in project planning and implementation, and to make suggestions about how current policy can be modified to improve levels of participation. After giving details of the study, the article concludes that: there was little involvement of people in the planning of projects (any involvement was in the implementation); there was a strong male bias, in terms of resources, decision making and advice giving; and there was a growing resentment towards the programmes, primarily due to false promises made at the start. It finishes with a series of recommendations of changes that need to be made to ensure greater participation of the community at all levels of the project.