ABSTRACT
The nature and the scale of changes needed in all countries to achieve sustainable human development are increasingly well documented and understood. This chapter seeks to identify some criteria for a systems approach to sustainability. It discusses some of the questions how participatory decision-making and representative institutions can best be established in countries of the South with very diverse political and social traditions, and whether the approaches of international agencies and donors are moving in the right direction. The concept of sustainable development embodies a belief that people should be able to alter and improve their lives in accordance with criteria which take account of the needs of others and which protect the planet and future generations. For the people to take charge of their own destiny, therefore, something more than participation is required. To encompass that ‘something more’, the development community has adopted the term empowerment.
