Two participatory projects in South Asia

This paper assesses the experience from two participatory projects in South Asia and concludes that participatory approaches can be severely constrained by institutional factors, including hierarchical systems and attitudes. The adoption of participatory approaches may be a necessary condition for successful projects and programmes but it will rarely be sufficient in itself to guarantee that success. There is a need for renewed attention to the development of professional capacity to first enter into dialogue with community members and then respond to their needs in appropriate ways. Participatory systems that build from local organisations up to the level of a town or city as a whole are conceptually attractive but are likely to prove difficult to implement in practice.