Community-Based and Driven Development: A Critical Review

Mansuri, Ghazala ; Rao, Vijayendra

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: COMMUNITY BASED DEVELOPMENT;    COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT;    COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION;    POOR COMMUNITIES;    COMMUNITY LEADERS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3209
RP-ID  :  WPS3209

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-based (and driven) development(CBD/CDD) projects have become an important form ofdevelopment assistance, with the World Bank's portfolioalone approximating 7 billion dollars. The authors reviewthe conceptual foundations of CBD/CDD initiatives. Given theimportance of the topic, there are, unfortunately, a dearthof well-designed evaluations of such projects. But there isenough quantitative and qualitative evidence from studiesthat have either been published in peer-reviewedpublications or have been conducted by independentresearchers to glean some instructive lessons. The authorsfind that projects that rely on community participation havenot been particularly effective at targeting the poor. Thereis some evidence that CBD/CDD projects create effectivecommunity infrastructure, but not a single study establishesa causal relationship between any outcome and participatoryelements of a CBD project. Most CBD projects are dominatedby elites and, in general, the targeting of poor communitiesas well as project quality tend to be markedly worse in moreunequal communities. However, a number of studies find aU-shaped relationship between inequality and projectoutcomes. The authors also find that a distinction betweenpotentially "benevolent" forms of elite dominationand more pernicious types of "capture" is likelyto be important for understanding project dynamics andoutcomes. Several qualitative studies indicate that thesustainability of CBD initiatives depends crucially on anenabling institutional environment, which requires upwardcommitment. Equally, the literature indicates that communityleaders need to be downwardly accountable to avoid a variantof "supply-driven demand-driven development."Qualitative evidence also suggests that external agentsstrongly influence project success. However, facilitatorsare often poorly trained and inexperienced, particularlywhen programs are rapidly scaled up. Overall, a naiveapplication of complex contextual concepts like"participation," "social capital," and"empowerment" is endemic among projectimplementers and contributes to poor design andimplementation. In sum, the evidence suggests that CBD/CDDis best done in a context-specific manner, with a longtime-horizon, and with careful and well-designed monitoringand evaluation systems.