Publisher's Synopsis
This monograph reviews recent Third World experience of community participation in urban development projects funded, designed and implemented by a diversity of organizations and project agencies. The purpose of such a review is to identify and analyse some of the fundamental contradictions inherent in the incorporation of community participation in urban projects. The intention is to assist policymakers to identify the potential and limitations of community participation in different scale projects. The monograph starts by examining the four fundamental questions of why, when, whose and how participation. The distinction between participation as a means and participation as an end, and Paul's fivefold objectives of participation are both examined in terms of their usefulness for evaluation. The importance of disaggregating on the basis of gender, recognising the role that women play in community participation, is also discussed. The reasons why community participation is as important in the urban as in the rural context is also mentioned.
