ABSTRACT
The District focus strategy was hailed as an important step towards enhancing local participation in the development process. Even non-governmental development personnel quickly embraced the concept and began working through the government machinery established to facilitate operationalization of the strategy. Successive development plans developed by the government of Kenya and health-development agencies stipulated that communities should be involved in the planning and implementation of project activities. The health projects studied in preparation for this paper indicate an insidious interest by agencies and the government to create objects of development from social categories. In some communities, different agencies form different groups, to implement heath activities. Ministry of Health personnel at almost all levels claim that the missing link in community health development is 'lack of proper knowledge'. A clear pattern observable in most community health projects relates to the attempts of the government and development agencies and personnel to modernize communities.
