The Capability Approach, Empowerment and Participation: Concepts, Methods and Applications

This book focuses on the role and concept of participation. The contributors consider the various discourses and the diverse interests and intentions at the heart of current development thinking and practices. These findings support that some articulate participation from an apolitical and pragmatic perspective, i.e. better involvement of ‘beneficiaries’ in development projects and initiatives, can lead to responsive solutions, addressing people’s diverse needs and aspirations. Others, however, have use the cost-benefit analysis to argue that participation is a mechanism to reduce the expenditure of programmes, achieved by engaging local communities in the implementation and maintenance of interventions. Ultimately, this volume explores how a sense of ownership of interventions can lead to continued maintenance of project outputs and participation in international development.