Opportunities and challenges in implementing aspirations of participation within development

Abstract

There have been contradictions within the critical research whether the local attributes of grassroots NGOs are an obstacle or possibility to implement participation. The main criticism towards this used in this study is that of the transformative approach, which sometimes argues that the focus of localness cannot challenge the structural power relations needed in order to reach the empowerment of marginalized people which participatory approaches aim to do.

This case study seeks to understand the opportunities and challenges of implementing participation at a local- and small-scale level, by testing the ideas of the transformative approach of the participatory practices by the grassroots-NGO Project Vita operating in the rural village Linga Linga in Mozambique. From the results of in-depth interviews with the founder, a financial donor, local leaders, local workers and other local citizens, several opportunities and challenges have been found regarding the local context Project Vita works in and the power relations within it.