Barriers to Community Participation in Development Planning: Lessons from the Mutengene (Cameroon) Self‐Help Water Project

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Abstract

<p> The study draws on the experience of the Mutengene, <em> Cameroon self&hyphen;help water project </em> to: (i) underscore the indispensable role of <em> community participation </em> (CP); and (ii) identify and discuss leading barriers to CP in <em> development planning </em> . Eleven constraints, including the paternalistic posture of authorities, prescriptive role of the state, embellishment of successes, selective participation, inattention to negative results, hard&hyphen;issue bias, intra/inter&hyphen;group conflicts, gate&hyphen;keeping by leaders, excessive pressures for immediate results, lack of interest, population size, and belief systems, are discussed. Efforts to promote understanding of CP as a viable strategy for implementing capital improvement projects in LDCs are recommended.</p>
Original languageAmerican English
JournalCommunity Development Journal
Volume37
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2002

Disciplines

  • Earth Sciences

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