Making sense of participation

Abstract

This chapter examines the concept of participation in development and argues for greater attention to how individuals themselves understand and respond to development policies and programmes.

Rather than viewing participation simply as involvement in a predetermined project, the chapter proposes an interpretive or sense-making approach in which people actively give meaning to policy through their lived experiences. It develops a framework based on three principles: subjectivity, temporality and situation.

Subjectivity recognises that individuals interpret policies in relation to their personal histories and experiences. Temporality highlights that these interpretations can change over time as people’s circumstances, needs and aspirations change. Situation emphasises that a development programme is only one of many overlapping social, economic and personal contexts within which people live.

The framework draws on qualitative research with members of the Nhyira Beekeepers Association, an income-generating project in Ghana’s Afram Plains. The chapter demonstrates that understanding participation requires attention not only to what people do within development programmes, but also to how they interpret those programmes in relation to the wider realities of their lives.