Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development

by Bryant L. Myers

The following guidelines for effective participation are adapted from a set proposed by Sam Voorhies (1996, 129-35): • Participation begins at the beginning, with the community's story and analysis. • Start small, in a manner that the community can manage largely on its own. • Use a process or learning approach, not a blueprint. Help the community learn how to learn. • Encourage the community to mobilize its own resources. Get community members to invest. • Encourage community members to run the program and experience the joy of their successes and learn from their mistakes. • Build capacity. Participation that empowers needs to be learned; help community members succeed. • Invest in organizing; help them find new ways of working together. • Have a bias toward peace. Participation means power, and power tends to divide. Be very inclusive. • Communicate, communicate, communicate.