To what extent has participatory development succeded in its aims?

... To what extent has participatory development succeeded in its aims? The concept of participation emerged as a response to previous development theory that was critiqued for it's top down approach and "putting the first last". The situation prior to participatory development had been criticised for not achieving their aims, growth in developing countries had not been achieved despite record spending and where it had, was accompanied by unequal distribution of wealth. Previous development had also been criticised for a continuation of colonial relationships where the developing countries had effectively been re-colonised by the development process, and carrying huge debts. This ineffectiveness had been attributed to development policies being forced upon communities who 'were kept out of all processes related to their design, formulation and implementation' Rahmena (1992:117). It was with strong consensus that something had to be done, a radical overhaul of the process by which development was orchestrated. The result

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