Community-Driven Development : Myths and Realities

Wong, Susan ; Guggenheim, Scott

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT;    LOCAL GOVERNANCE;    COMMUNITY-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT;    SERVICE DELIVERY;    RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8435
RP-ID  :  WPS8435

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Community-driven development is anapproach to development that emphasizes community controlover planning decisions and investment resources. Over thepast decade, it has become a key operational strategy formany national governments, as well as for international aidagencies, with the World Bank alone currently supportingmore than 190 active community-driven development projectsin 78 countries.Community-driven development programs haveproven to be particularly useful where governmentinstitutions are weak or under stress. This paper examineswhat the evidence shows about the utility ofcommunity-driven development programs for helpinggovernments improve the lives and futures of the poor. Thepaper also addresses recent critiques of thecommunity-driven development approach.The paper makesthree main arguments. First, community-driven developmentoffers governments a useful new tool for improving the livesof the poor. The empirical evidence from evaluationsconfirms that community-driven development programs providemuch needed productive economic infrastructure and servicesat large scale, reasonable cost, and high quality. They alsoprovide villagers, especially the disadvantaged, with avoice in how development funds are used to improve theirwelfare.Second, community-driven development programs arenot a homogeneous category, and it is important toacknowledge the differences between national, on-budget,multi-year programs, and off-budget programs. And finally,community-driven development works best and achieves thegreatest results when it is part of a broader developmentstrategy that includes reforms to governance, investments inproductivity, and integration with efforts to improve thequality of public service delivery.