Participation in Development

Participation and empowerment are buzz words in the field of development. Bill Easterly gives us some insight:

The main function of buzzwords such as “participation” and “empowerment” is to paper over the ugly reality that there will be some battles of conflicting interests between “the poor and disadvantaged” and other more powerful groups like the World Bank and rulers of poor countries -- and that the poor will almost always lose such battles.

What is real participation? Sadly, I agree with Easterly that participation as done by development and humanitarian organizations is often just another check mark to go through as we work in other countries. Real participation means recognition of how people already participate and using that to enhance their own personal liberty.