Resources

Field observations have led many people to believe that beneficiary participation in decision making can contribute greatly to the success of development projects. When people influence or control the decisions that affect them, they have a greater stake in the outcome and will work harder to ensure success. But the evidence supporting this reasoning is qualitative so that many practictioners remain skeptical. Three questions need to be addressed: to what degree does participation contribute to project effectiveness? which beneficiary and agency characteristics foster the process? and, if participation does benefit project outcomes, how can it be encouraged through policy and project design? To answer these questions, researchers studied evaluations of 121 completed rural water supply projects in forty-nine developing countries around the world. The results show that beneficiary participation contributes significantly to project effectiveness, even after statistically controlling for the effects of 17 other factors. The basic conclusion of this study is that rural water projects must be fundamentally redesigned in order to reach the one billion rural poor who lack a sustainable water supply. Redesign must encompass a shift from supply-driven planning to demand-responsive, participatory approaches to ensure beneficiary participation, control, and ownership.

This World Bank Technical Paper presents a discussion on participatory development at all stages of the development process, with a specific emphasis on participatory evaluation. Involving stakeholders closely in all aspects of the program is argued to foster ôownershipö, accountability, and a willingness on the part of users to manage and invest in services. A mechanism is needed to allow for learning, correction, and adjustment to be built into this participatory development process. To do this, a clear set of objectives and indicators of success which promote accountability and participation and which can be monitored and evaluated. This document is geared to provide policymakers, managers, and planning and evaluation staff with ideas about participatory processes and indicators that may be used to involve community members and others in program evaluation. The focus is on the development of key indicators that can be measured to determine progress of water and sanitation programs, their sustainability, effective use, and replicability. Short summaries (ôfield insightsö) of projects are included throughout to complement the discussions.

The article provides the overview and analysis, gives examples of diverse experiences and draws on emerging trends and patterns in community water management which is the thematic focus for this issue of PLA Notes. In teasing out the outcomes and progress of a research project for the International Water and Sanitation Centre which aimed to improve the management of water supply systems of rural communities in six countries, the authors challenge readers to think of water management in terms of participation, governance and democracy.

In this article, the authors argue that women's involvement (despite initial resistance from the village males) in a participatory water project has had an impact on their role in the community in northern Pakistan. By recounting the history and context of the water project, the barriers faced, the process of participation and the final resolution to the water problem by the community, the authors discuss the wider issue of gender politics. They show how in choosing to go with the women's strategy for harnessing water, the role of gender in mediating access to and management of water becomes apparent and how larger shifts occur in terms of community participation in development.

In this article, the authors recount the experiences of an NGO, Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH), in helping the community of Lele Mahadev Khola village to manage their water system through maintenance and funding. The activities carried out by the NGO through PAR is detailed with insights on what the PAR approach has been able to achieve.