Community participation in development: nine plagues and twelve commandments

Many development thinkers and practitioners have been pondering over community participation for the last two to three decades – some even called the 1980s the decade of participation. To a large extent the current decade of social movements, non government organizations (NGOs) and community based organizations (CBOs), is a manifestation of organized community participation. By analyzing the dynamics of community participation, particularly in the South African urban upgrading context, nine obstacles and impediments ('plagues') are exposed which serve to illustrate participatory development as a complex and difficult, though essential and challenging endeavour. Twelve draft guidelines ('commandments') are also presented in trying to address these obstacles associated with participatory development.