ABSTRACT

The idea of ‘Participatory Development’ first became popular in the 1980s, as the sense grew of the failings and inadequacies of ‘top-down’ development approaches. Returning to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for all their participatory, inclusive approach to development, there would seem to be just as much cynicism towards them as ever there was to the Millennium Development Goals. The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, for example, in its plan for the implementation of the SDGs argues that Culture will be key in the success of sustainable development policies, as driver and enabler of development and people-centred societies. Participatory approaches generally begin as small-scale, local interventions that seek to engage with culture as a way to better understand and work with specific communities in finding solutions to local problems, further challenging the type of ‘top-down’ initiatives Chambers sought to question via Participatory Rural Appraisal.