ABSTRACT
Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist, who was President of South Africa from 1994–1999, provided a useful de facto characterization of development in 2005 when he said, “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural – it is man-made, and it can be eradicated by the actions of human beings”. The United Nations was founded to promote international cooperation and to create and maintain international order. A few decades back, a soft-spoken Bengali man gave five lectures to one of those Bretton Woods institutions that have so shaped Economic development – the World Bank. Participatory approaches have gained increased prominence despite the technocratic origins of international development and have begun to address concerns about “putting the last first”, so that other realities, voices and aspirations for change might be valued.
