ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to summarise the vast knowledge in bottom-up development literature where this is connected to the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) approach. It presents the main ideas of bottom-up development approaches and—even though it is difficult to generalise—explains the different elements which the approaches have in common. The chapter discusses the reference frame for the case study research. This research suggests that the BoP concept can profit a great deal more from the knowledge in bottom-up development literature than it has thus far, and BoP research is examined from the perspective of bottom-up development approaches. The basic premise of bottom-up development is that the poor have to be the key actors in planning and implementing their own development. Asset-based community development is an approach, a set of methods for community mobilisation and a strategy for community-based development and community-driven development. Development can be seen as a transaction process involving different actors and negotiation over divergent goals.
