ABSTRACT
Beneficiary participation should not be seen as a panacea for overcoming all problems of development. It can play a strategic role, however, in bringing about a people-centred approach to achieving equitable and sustainable growth for which, in the real world, trade-offs and compromises will be necessary. In a major World Food Programme-assisted land and infrastructure rehabilitation project in Ethiopia, a beneficiary participation approach has been introduce in an attempt to improve the appropriateness and sustainability of project activities. Based on this experience, the paper examines some of the constraints to incorporating beneficiary participation in the design and implementation of development projects. These include: increased planning costs, which may or may not be balanced by improved prospects for the sustainability of the assets created; conflict between local community priorities and the objectives of governments and aid agencies; private versus public and community benefits; raising the expectations of communities compared to the ability of development authorities to deliver; and local knowledge versus technical expertise. Beneficiary participation has the potential to be an effective instrument, but if it is to be realized, attention must be paid to its limitations and constraints.
