ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to go some way towards answering the following questions. How realistic is an agenda of participatory development for Barbados? Do the foundations of social capital and civil society exist with which to build participatory development? If not, what signs are there that building social capital and civil society is a possibility? It contributes to a wider debate on the crisis of social capital in the world's mature democracies. Following a description of the development status of Barbados, the magnitude and power of civil society are examined, drawing from interviews conducted by the author with community development workers, the local academic and professional literatures and the press. The Pinelands Creative Workshop is unique in Barbados as a long-standing, community managed, politically independent, development organisation. The organisation has adopted a business model of management. Initially leadership was elected and running costs for the organisation were generated from membership fees.
