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Programmed to Fail? Development Projects and the Politics of Participation

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  • S. Kumar
  • S. SurnameCorbridge

Abstract

The Eastern India Rainfed Farming Project is in many respects a model development project. A joint venture of the governments of India and the UK, the EIRFP has been successful in improving farm-based livelihoods in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. But the Project might yet be considered a failure. It has not persuaded the poorest villagers in Jharkhand (our study area) to join or manage the self-help groups that are called for by the Project's Logical Framework. We show why this has been the case, and why such an outcome was entirely predictable. Development projects cannot be expected to change local systems of politics or stratification. But this does not mean that the EIRFP is a failure. It means that a development project will be destined to 'fail' when it is judged against unrealistic assumptions about the possibilities and merits of 'participation'.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Kumar & S. SurnameCorbridge, 2002. "Programmed to Fail? Development Projects and the Politics of Participation," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 73-103.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:39:y:2002:i:2:p:73-103
    DOI: 10.1080/00220380412331322761
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    Cited by:

    1. Ngarava, Saul & Mushunje, Abbyssinia & Chaminuka, Petronella, 2020. "Qualitative benefits of livestock development programmes. Evidence from the Kaonafatso ya Dikgomo (KyD) Scheme in South Africa," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Cornish, Flora & Ghosh, Riddhi, 2007. "The necessary contradictions of 'community-led' health promotion: A case study of HIV prevention in an Indian red light district," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 496-507, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Chand, Narendra & Kerr, Geoffrey N. & Bigsby, Hugh R., "undated". "Why some community forests are performing better than others: a case of forest user groups in Nepal," 2010 Conference, August 26-27, 2010, Nelson, New Zealand 96827, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    5. Barbara Pozzoni, 2007. "The Effectiveness of World Bank Support for Community-Based and Driven Development : Engaging the Poor through CBD and CDD Initiatives--A Brazil Country Study with a Focus on the Northeast," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 20202.
    6. Barbara Pozzoni & Nalini Kumar, 2005. "A Review of the Literature on Participatory Approaches to Local Development for an Evaluation of the Effectiveness of World Bank Support for Community-Based and Driven Development Approaches," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 20203.
    7. Tang-Lee, Diane, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and public engagement for a Chinese state-backed mining project in Myanmar – Challenges and prospects," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 28-37.
    8. Elizabeth Finnis, 2017. "Collective Action, Envisioning the Future and Women’s Self-help Groups: A Case Study from South India," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 1-23, February.
    9. Sarah Jewitt & Sujatha Raman, 2017. "Energy Poverty, Institutional Reform and Challenges of Sustainable Development: The Case of India," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 17(2), pages 173-185, April.
    10. Fox, Jonathan, 2020. "Contested terrain: International development projects and countervailing power for the excluded," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    11. Radhakrishnan, Smitha, 2015. "“Low Profile” or Entrepreneurial? Gender, Class, and Cultural Adaptation in the Global Microfinance Industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 264-274.
    12. Katarzyna Cieslik & Art Dewulf & Wouter Buytaert, 2020. "Project Narratives: Investigating Participatory Conservation in the Peruvian Andes," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(4), pages 1067-1097, July.
    13. Daniel Abrahams, 2022. "Lessons in a bottle: The outsized impacts of soda in development practice," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(6), pages 1071-1085, August.
    14. Classen, Lauren & Humphries, Sally & FitzSimons, John & Kaaria, Susan & Jiménez, José & Sierra, Fredy & Gallardo, Omar, 2008. "Opening Participatory Spaces for the Most Marginal: Learning from Collective Action in the Honduran Hillsides," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2402-2420, November.
    15. 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.

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