Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment

Poverty has remained stubbornly high in Africa for decades. Top-down plans and donor driven investment programs have been less than successful. Past experience suggests that decentralization will not work without vibrant, participatory communities....

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Main Author: World Bank Group
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/548521480060982335/Community-driven-development-a-vision-of-poverty-reduction-through-empowerment
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25787
id okr-10986-25787
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-257872021-05-25T08:56:09Z Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment World Bank Group poverty community empowerment community-driven development accountability social inclusion decentralization gender capacity building Poverty has remained stubbornly high in Africa for decades. Top-down plans and donor driven investment programs have been less than successful. Past experience suggests that decentralization will not work without vibrant, participatory communities. And enhanced participation will at some point need a local government structure for sustainability. The two can evolve together dynamically, strengthening one another. The new vision seeks to put local governments and rural and urban communities in driver's seat, and give them a new set of powers, rights, and obligations. These include: the right to be treated as people with capabilities, not objects of pity; the power to plan, implement, and maintain projects to serve their felt needs; the right to hold politicians and officials accountable; the power to command local bureaucrats instead of being supplicants; the power to hire, pay, and discipline all who provide them with frontline local services like education, health, municipal, and agricultural services; the right to a share of central government revenue; the power to levy user charges and local taxes; the obligation to enable women, ethnic minorities, the poorest, and other long excluded groups to participate fully in economic development; and the obligation to be accountable to local people, not just central governments or donors. To embark on local empowerment, one need first to enunciate its key principles. One can then consider the main elements of a set of interventions to enhance participation and decentralization, tailored to the stage of development in each country. 2017-01-03T20:37:14Z 2017-01-03T20:37:14Z 2016 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/548521480060982335/Community-driven-development-a-vision-of-poverty-reduction-through-empowerment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25787 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper Africa Sub-Saharan Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic poverty
community empowerment
community-driven development
accountability
social inclusion
decentralization
gender
capacity building
spellingShingle poverty
community empowerment
community-driven development
accountability
social inclusion
decentralization
gender
capacity building
World Bank Group
Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment
geographic_facet Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
description Poverty has remained stubbornly high in Africa for decades. Top-down plans and donor driven investment programs have been less than successful. Past experience suggests that decentralization will not work without vibrant, participatory communities. And enhanced participation will at some point need a local government structure for sustainability. The two can evolve together dynamically, strengthening one another. The new vision seeks to put local governments and rural and urban communities in driver's seat, and give them a new set of powers, rights, and obligations. These include: the right to be treated as people with capabilities, not objects of pity; the power to plan, implement, and maintain projects to serve their felt needs; the right to hold politicians and officials accountable; the power to command local bureaucrats instead of being supplicants; the power to hire, pay, and discipline all who provide them with frontline local services like education, health, municipal, and agricultural services; the right to a share of central government revenue; the power to levy user charges and local taxes; the obligation to enable women, ethnic minorities, the poorest, and other long excluded groups to participate fully in economic development; and the obligation to be accountable to local people, not just central governments or donors. To embark on local empowerment, one need first to enunciate its key principles. One can then consider the main elements of a set of interventions to enhance participation and decentralization, tailored to the stage of development in each country.
format Working Paper
author World Bank Group
author_facet World Bank Group
author_sort World Bank Group
title Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment
title_short Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment
title_full Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment
title_fullStr Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment
title_full_unstemmed Community Driven Development : A Vision of Poverty Reduction through Empowerment
title_sort community driven development : a vision of poverty reduction through empowerment
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/548521480060982335/Community-driven-development-a-vision-of-poverty-reduction-through-empowerment
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25787
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