IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v33y2021i3d10.1057_s41287-020-00287-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Development and Participation: Whose Participation? A Critical Analysis of the UNDP’s Participatory Research Methods

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Telleria

    (Universidad del País Vasco – Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU)

Abstract

Participatory development became a new development orthodoxy during the early 1990s. However, many researchers have criticised that its implementation often fails to live up to its original transformative roots. This article analyses the participatory research methods promoted by the UNDP, its epistemological foundations and the knowledge–power dynamics within them. The inquiry finds that the local experts hired by the UNDP play a central role in articulating the top-down authority of the UNDP with the bottom-up legitimacy of the local perspectives. Rather than promoting ‘development by the people, for the people’, the UNDP promotes ‘development by the experts, for the people’.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Telleria, 2021. "Development and Participation: Whose Participation? A Critical Analysis of the UNDP’s Participatory Research Methods," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(3), pages 459-481, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:33:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00287-8
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-020-00287-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-020-00287-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-020-00287-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Serene Khader, 2009. "Adaptive Preferences and Procedural Autonomy," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 169-187.
    2. Vasudha Chhotray, 2007. "The 'Anti-politics machine' in India: Depoliticisation through local institution building for participatory watershed development," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(6), pages 1037-1056.
    3. Linda Mayoux & Robert Chambers, 2005. "Reversing the paradigm: quantification, participatory methods and pro-poor impact assessment," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 271-298.
    4. Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko & Kumar, A.K. Shiva (ed.), 2009. "Handbook of Human Development: Concepts, Measures, and Policies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195692334.
    5. Juan Telleria, 2017. "Power relations? What power relations? The de-politicising conceptualisation of development of the UNDP," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 2143-2158, September.
    6. Benedikt Korf, 2010. "The Geography of Participation," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 709-720.
    7. Charis Enns & Brock Bersaglio & Thembela Kepe, 2014. "Indigenous voices and the making of the post-2015 development agenda: the recurring tyranny of participation," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 358-375, March.
    8. Maia Green, 2010. "Making Development Agents: Participation as Boundary Object in International Development," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(7), pages 1240-1263.
    9. Nagoda, Sigrid & Nightingale, Andrea J., 2017. "Participation and Power in Climate Change Adaptation Policies: Vulnerability in Food Security Programs in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 85-93.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juan Telleria, 0. "Development and Participation: Whose Participation? A Critical Analysis of the UNDP’s Participatory Research Methods," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    2. He, Lulu, 2019. "Identifying local needs for post-disaster recovery in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 52-62.
    3. Neil M. Dawson & Michael Mason & Janet A. Fisher & David Mujasi Mwayafu & Hari Dhungana & Heike Schroeder & Mark Zeitoun, 2018. "Norm Entrepreneurs Sidestep REDD+ in Pursuit of Just and Sustainable Forest Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, May.
    4. Suno Wu, Jenny & Barbrook-Johnson, Pete & Font, Xavier, 2021. "Participatory complexity in tourism policy: Understanding sustainability programmes with participatory systems mapping," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Hochachka, Gail, 2021. "Integrating the four faces of climate change adaptation: Towards transformative change in Guatemalan coffee communities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Cieslik, Katarzyna, 2016. "Moral Economy Meets Social Enterprise Community-Based Green Energy Project in Rural Burundi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 12-26.
    7. Schleicher, Michael & Souares, Aurélia & Pacere, Athanase Narangoro & Sauerborn, Rainer & Klonner, Stefan, 2016. "Decentralized versus Statistical Targeting of Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from Burkina Faso," Working Papers 0623, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    8. Eriksen, Siri & Schipper, E. Lisa F. & Scoville-Simonds, Morgan & Vincent, Katharine & Adam, Hans Nicolai & Brooks, Nick & Harding, Brian & Khatri, Dil & Lenaerts, Lutgart & Liverman, Diana & Mills-No, 2021. "Adaptation interventions and their effect on vulnerability in developing countries: Help, hindrance or irrelevance?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Stock, Ryan, 2021. "Bright as night: Illuminating the antinomies of ‘gender positive’ solar development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    10. Barbara Groot & Tineke Abma, 2021. "Boundary Objects: Engaging and Bridging Needs of People in Participatory Research by Arts-Based Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-11, July.
    11. Andrea Rigon, 2016. "Collective or individual titles? Conflict over tenure regularisation in a Kenyan informal settlement," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(13), pages 2758-2778, October.
    12. Omukuti, Jessica, 2020. "Challenging the obsession with local level institutions in country ownership of climate change adaptation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    13. Elizabeth Waithanji & Nadhem Mtimet & Pauline Muindi, 2019. "Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia Vaccine Delivery and Adoption by Women and Men in North-Eastern Kenya," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(3), pages 364-387, July.
    14. Audi, Marc & Poulin, Marc & Ali, Amjad, 2023. "Determinants of Human Wellbeing and its Prospect Under the Role of Financial Inclusion in South Asian Countries," MPRA Paper 120119, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Larru, Jose Maria, 2007. "La evaluación de impacto: qué es, cómo se mide y qué está aportando en la cooperación al desarrollo [Impact Assessment and Evaluation: What it is it, how can it be measured and what it is adding to," MPRA Paper 6928, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Lilian Miles, 2014. "The Capabilities Approach and Worker Wellbeing," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 1043-1054, August.
    17. Leonardo Becchetti & Maristella Cacciapaglia & Piergiuseppe Morone & Luca Raffaele & Lorenzo Semplici, 2021. "Multi-Stakeholder Impact Environmental Indexes: The Case of NeXt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    18. John‐Michael Davis & Yaakov Garb, 2019. "Participatory shaping of community futures in e‐waste processing hubs: Complexity, conflict and stewarded convergence in a Palestinian context," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(1), pages 67-89, January.
    19. Scarlato, Margherita, 2012. "Social Enterprise, Capabilities and Development: Lessons from Ecuador," MPRA Paper 37618, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Tschakert, Petra & Parsons, Meg & Atkins, Ed & Garcia, Alicea & Godden, Naomi & Gonda, Noemi & Henrique, Karen Paiva & Sallu, Susannah & Steen, Karin & Ziervogel, Gina, 2023. "Methodological lessons for negotiating power, political capabilities, and resilience in research on climate change responses," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:33:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00287-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.