Realities of participatory community-based environmental rehabilitation projects: a case study of soil erosion countermeasures in western Kenya

Yuko Yamane

doi:10.4314/jdcs.v6i1.5

Abstract

This study attempts to describe the realities of participatory development projects in western Kenya, where severe soil degradation has occurred, using participatory observation methods. Six aid organizations administered development projects for environmental rehabilitation in the area; however, less than 10% of study area residents participated in project activities. This article argues that this lack of participation was fuelled by a disjuncture of understanding between aid organizations, community-based development organizations, and area residents about project purposes and goals. It suggests that in order for participatory development projects to be successful all stakeholders must understand and take ownership of the project. People who the aid organization called “community” often turned out to be a collection of unconnected people. In addition, not everyone who was involved participated out of a desire to stop soil erosion. Many people were not directly impacted by the gullies and their motivation for participation was purely for economic reasons. Thus, growing seedlings and planting them was seen more as a source of income than as a way to repair and restore the local environment. Such motivations need to be considered when creating participatory development projectsKeywords: participatory development, community development, environmental rehabilitation, Luo, Kenya

Highlights

The complex and dynamic nature of environmental problems requires flexible and transparent decision-making that embraces a diversity of knowledge and values
How Aid Agencies Understand Development Projects As mentioned, six aid organizations conducted projects in the study area (Table 1) in 2010 during the author’s stay: the Kenya governmental research institute known as KARI, the international agricultural research institute known as the World Agroforestry Centre, and multiple international and domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
Most of the organizations’ projects were focused on environmental rehabilitation and involved working with communitybased organizations (CBOs) that were identified by letters; for example, one of the groups involved in raising chickens was identified as Group A while a CBO which was focused on planting trees was identified as Group K

Summary

Introduction

The complex and dynamic nature of environmental problems requires flexible and transparent decision-making that embraces a diversity of knowledge and values For this reason, stakeholder participation in environmental decision making has been increasingly sought and embedded into national and international policy (Reed, 2008). Many environmental rehabilitation projects conducted by both governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have adopted the phrase “participatory development” or “community-based development” in their project name or methods. Participation in such efforts varies and sometimes the local community members’ connection to these projects is little more than ephemeral in nature (Saito, 2002)

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