IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodepp/v5y2020i1p32-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Nexus Between Participation and Empowerment

Author

Listed:
  • Palash Kamruzzaman

Abstract

Theoretically, the idea of participation might appear to be replete with grand-sounding promises of empowerment for the poor and marginalised. But, in practice, participation may often take the form of enlisting people in various social and community development projects to secure the compliance of local people. In this paper, I offer a critical review of theoretical promises of participation and contrast this with a number of real-world examples. I argue that participation can be used for validating external approach and incorporated in social as well as community development projects to make it more cost-effective. In theory, giving voices to the poor is important but tokenistic inclusion can often be found in practice for cost-effectiveness. However, giving voices and/or cost efficiency arguments are not coherent with the ideas of empowerment while practices of participation often fail to address the issues of power among various actors, such as decision-makers, participation-seekers and participants. When participation is used as a prerequisite to secure fund or make the project cost-effective, empowerment of poor people does not seem to be a genuine priority. Therefore, empowerment through participation may remain lip-service.

Suggested Citation

  • Palash Kamruzzaman, 2020. "Exploring the Nexus Between Participation and Empowerment," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 5(1), pages 32-53, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:5:y:2020:i:1:p:32-53
    DOI: 10.1177/2455133320909926
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2455133320909926
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2455133320909926?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Solava Ibrahim & Sabina Alkire, 2007. "Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 379-403.
    2. Marie-Hélène Bacqué & Carole Biewener, 2013. "Different Manifestations of the Concept of Empowerment: The Politics of Urban Renewal in the United States and the United Kingdom," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 2198-2213, November.
    3. Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi, "undated". "Participatory Methods in the Analysis of Poverty: A Critical Review," QEH Working Papers qehwps62, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    4. Patrick Heller, 2001. "Moving the State: The Politics of Democratic Decentralization in Kerala, South Africa, and Porto Alegre," Politics & Society, , vol. 29(1), pages 131-163, March.
    5. Patti Petesch & Deepa Narayan, 2002. "Voices of the Poor : From Many Lands," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14053.
    6. Morgan, Julia, 2016. "Participation, empowerment and capacity building: Exploring young people's perspectives on the services provided to them by a grassroots NGO in sub-Saharan Africa," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 175-182.
    7. Wahid, Abdul & Ahmad, Muhammad Shakil & Abu Talib, Noraini Bt. & Shah, Iqtidar Ali & Tahir, Muhammad & Jan, Farzand Ali & Saleem, Muhammad Qaiser, 2017. "Barriers to empowerment: Assessment of community-led local development organizations in Pakistan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1361-1370.
    8. Cornwall, Andrea, 2003. "Whose Voices? Whose Choices? Reflections on Gender and Participatory Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1325-1342, August.
    9. Trommlerová, Sofia Karina & Klasen, Stephan & Leßmann, Ortrud, 2015. "Determinants of Empowerment in a Capability-Based Poverty Approach: Evidence from The Gambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 1-15.
    10. Finsterbusch, Kurt & Van Wicklin, Warren A, III, 1989. "Beneficiary Participation in Development Projects: Empirical Tests of Popular Theories," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(3), pages 573-593, April.
    11. Pretty, Jules N., 1995. "Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(8), pages 1247-1263, August.
    12. Swallow, Brent, 2005. "Potential for Poverty Reduction Strategies to Address Community Priorities: Case Study of Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 301-321, February.
    13. David Dodman & Diana Mitlin, 2013. "Challenges For Community‐Based Adaptation: Discovering The Potential For Transformation," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(5), pages 640-659, July.
    14. Chambers, Robert, 1994. "Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Analysis of experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(9), pages 1253-1268, September.
    15. repec:bla:devpol:v:21:y:2003:i:2:p:131-159 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Chambers, Robert, 1994. "Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Challenges, potentials and paradigm," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 1437-1454, October.
    17. Alsop, Ruth & Heinsohn, Nina, 2005. "Measuring empowerment in practice: structuring analysis and framing indicators," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3510, The World Bank.
    18. Kilby, Patrick, 2006. "Accountability for Empowerment: Dilemmas Facing Non-Governmental Organizations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 951-963, June.
    19. Chambers, Robert, 1994. "The origins and practice of participatory rural appraisal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 953-969, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liberatus J. Rwebugisa & Janet Usinger, 2021. "Empowerment Through Genuine Participation: Giving Voice to the Neglected Majority," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 6(2), pages 144-167, July.
    2. Gutierrez, Eylla Laire M., 2023. "Re-examining the participation and empowerment nexus: Applications to community-based tourism," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    3. Fernando Almeida, 2024. "Contributions of Municipal Initiatives to Digital Health Equity," World, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-16, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael J.G. Parnwell, 2003. "Consulting the poor in Thailand: enlightenment or delusion?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 3(2), pages 99-112, April.
    2. Pretty, Jules N., 1995. "Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(8), pages 1247-1263, August.
    3. Michener, Victoria J., 1998. "The participatory approach: Contradiction and co-option in Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(12), pages 2105-2118, December.
    4. Ross, Heather M. & Pine, Kathleen H. & Curran, Sarah & Augusta, Dawn, 2022. "Pathway mapping as a tool to address police use of force in behavioral health crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    5. Chilombo, Andrew & Van Der Horst, Dan, 2021. "Livelihoods and coping strategies of local communities on previous customary land in limbo of commercial agricultural development: Lessons from the farm block program in Zambia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    6. Thompson, John, 1995. "Participatory approaches in government bureaucracies: Facilitating the process of institutional change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 1521-1554, September.
    7. Shane Cronin & Mike Petterson & Paul Taylor & Randall Biliki, 2004. "Maximising Multi-Stakeholder Participation in Government and Community Volcanic Hazard Management Programs; A Case Study from Savo, Solomon Islands," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 33(1), pages 105-136, September.
    8. Glyn Williams & Manoj Srivastava & Stuart Corbridge & René Véron, 2003. "Enhancing pro-poor governance in Eastern India: participation, politics and action research," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 3(2), pages 159-178, April.
    9. Jinnat Ara & Dipanwita Sarkar & Jayanta Sarkar, 2021. "Like mother like daughter? Occupational mobility among children under asset transfer program in Bangladesh," QuBE Working Papers 061, QUT Business School.
    10. Namatama, Nathan, 2020. "An assessment of stakeholders’ participation in land use planning process of Luapula Province Planning Authority," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Thomas, David H. L. & Adams, William M., 1999. "Adapting to Dams: Agrarian Change Downstream of the Tiga Dam, Northern Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 919-935, June.
    12. Bond, Richard & Hulme, David, 1999. "Process Approaches to Development: Theory and Sri Lankan Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 1339-1358, August.
    13. Claudio Araujo & Catherine Araujo-Bonjean & Victor Beguerie, 2018. "Community mills and women's empowerment in Burkina Faso," CERDI Working papers halshs-01958755, HAL.
    14. Joseph Kwadwo Danquah & Farhad Analoui & Yvonne Ekua Deiba Koomson, 2018. "An evaluation of donor agencies’ policies on participatory development: The case of Ghana," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 138-158, March.
    15. Sapkota, Prativa & Keenan, Rodney J. & Ojha, Hemant R., 2018. "Community institutions, social marginalization and the adaptive capacity: A case study of a community forestry user group in the Nepal Himalayas," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 55-64.
    16. Jayachandran, Seema & Biradavolu, Monica & Cooper, Jan, 2023. "Using machine learning and qualitative interviews to design a five-question survey module for women’s agency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    17. Jennifer Sowerwine & Megan Mucioki & Daniel Sarna-Wojcicki & Lisa Hillman, 2019. "Reframing food security by and for Native American communities: a case study among tribes in the Klamath River basin of Oregon and California," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 579-607, June.
    18. Lant Pritchett & Deepa Narayan & Soumya Kapoor, 2009. "Moving Out of Poverty : Volume 2. Success from the Bottom Up," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11838.
    19. Andrew Osehi Enaifoghe & Cotties Toyin Adetiba, 2019. "Understanding Dynamic Engagement of Community in Local Governance, Enhancing Grassroots Development in South Africa," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 10(1), pages 22-32.
    20. Barrett, T. & Feola, G. & Krylova, V. & Khusnitdinova, M., 2017. "The application of Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS) to agricultural adaptation to climate change in Kazakhstan: A critical evaluation," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 106-113.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:5:y:2020:i:1:p:32-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.