ENB:04:55
[
Next] .
[
Previous] .
[
Contents]
LEGITIMIZATION OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Another critical
gain is the acceptance by many governments of the importance of the
participatory approach in the development of national action
programmes and, indeed, the recognition that this element is a
pre-condition to successful results. Many African countries have
come to accept that their national and regional action programmes
will not meet with real success unless affected local populations
are involved in the design, development and implementation of these
programmes.
Twenty years ago, few countries would have even
considered the usefulness, yet alone the political importance and
good sense, of NGO involvement. Now there is an awareness that
donors may very well steer money away from those programmes planned
in capital cities. This awareness may well lead to an attitudinal
shift regarding the need to plan action programmes in a
fundamentally different
way, with the full involvement of
NGOs and affected communities as an absolute prerequisite to the
true achievement of sustainable development.