Questioning Participatory Community Development in the Third World

Abstract

This paper links the common objectives of "participatory development" and "community development" into a concept named "participatory community development" (PCD). This approach may increase the cultural sensitivity of development projects, and is closely linked with the parallel methodology of participatory action research. In its popular usage, however, little is said of the attendant Western cultural baggage of PCD. The paper proposes an increased awareness of development change agents, and changes in the international development decision-making structure at the diagnosis level.