Beneficiary participation is an imperative, not an option, but does it really work in international development projects?

Abstract

Beneficiary engagement – external “nonmarket” stakeholder engagement in international development settings – can empower end-users to achieve project success. But we do not know what level of it (involvement/participation) influences short (project management success) and long-term project success (project impact). We examine the influence of beneficiary engagement levels on project success dimensions through stakeholders’ perceptions. Based on a quantitative analysis of 154 projects, we show both beneficiary involvement and beneficiary participation positively influence short and long-term project success. We find project characteristics such as beneficiary inputs do not significantly influence beneficiary engagement, but implementation context including beneficiary trust in project governance does. While some of these findings appear unexpected, they add to external stakeholder engagement literature, especially in low-and middle-income countries. We suggest a “one-size-fits-all” approach prevails in beneficiary engagement practice. Since beneficiary engagement is no longer an option, but an obligation, supervisors and managers should focus on increasing its beneficial impact.