Language:
English
Series Statement:
Freiburger Ethnologische Arbeitspapiere 13
Note:
Diplomarbeit, Magisterarbeit. - Abstract: Participatory development is the most widespread form of development today, where participation implies that beneficiaries are empowered to take development into their own hands in addition to being encouraged to cooperate with the government to ensure sustainability of their initiatives. Participatory development has been deemed particularly suitable for socially excluded groups, following the formula: participation equals inclusion and social exclusion is the opposite of participation. In this dissertation I will show that participation in development projects can take various forms and bring about unexpected outcomes. This finding is based on two field studies of NGO-led social inclusion interventions, one focusing on a tribe called Sahariyas in India and the other on a Roma (i.e. Gypsy) community in Montenegro. I argue that on one hand, the beneficiaries desired to have access to services and to be included in "the project of modernity" but on the other, they were much more interested in improving the wellbeing of their group than in working toward social integration with the mainstream. This state of affairs calls attention to some limitations that can be found in these participatory development projects, one of them being the tendency among NGOs to prioritize representations of project success over the real impact of their project on the beneficiaries.
URL:
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-opus-66873
