This paper investigates the relationship between participation, empowerment and sustainability. Using the multisectoral and multicontextual experience of participation amassed in South Africa, both pre- and post-apartheid , we address two questions: does participation lead to empowerment; and does empowerment, in turn, lead to sustainability? Further, what external factors mediate and influence that relationship? Analysis shows that a relationship does exist and is contingent on a number of contextual factors, crucial to its success. Findings are discussed in terms of the international literature on community participation and local democracy, and policy implications are identified.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abbott, J. (1996) Sharing the City: Community Participation in Urban Management. London: Earthscan.
2.
Anc (Africa National Congress) (1994) The Reconstruction and Development Programme. Johannesburg : Umyano Publications.
3.
Anc (Africa National Congress) (1997) GEAR: the debate, Mayibuye: Masakhane Supplement, October. Available at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/pubs/mayi9710.html#Art5 .
4.
Arnstein, S.R. (1969) A ladder of citizen participation, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35, pp. 216.
5.
Asthana, S. (1994) Integrated slum improvement in Visakhapatnam, India: problems and prospects, Habitat International, 18, pp. 57-70.
6.
Atkinson, R. (1999) Discourses of partnership and empowerment in contemporary British urban regeneration, UrbanStudies, 36, pp. 59-72.
7.
Beer, F.C. De (1996) Reconstruction and development as people-centred development: challenges facing development administration, Africanus, 26(1), pp. 65-80.
8.
Berry J., and McGreal, S. (1995) Community inter-agency structures in the regeneration of inner-city Belfast, Town Planning Review, 66, pp. 129-142.
9.
Blumenfeld, J. (1996) From icon to scapegoat? The experience of South Africa's Reconstruction and Development Programme. Public Policy Discussion Paper, Department of Economics and Finance, Brunei University .
10.
Buckland, J. (1998) Social capital and sustainability of NGO intermediated development projects in Bangladesh, Community Development Journal, 33(3), pp. 236-248.
11.
Carney, D. (1999) Approaches to sustainable livelihoods for the rural poor. ODI Poverty Briefing, 2, Overseas Development Institute, London .
12.
Carolus, C. (1994) Transformation in South Africa: the role of civil society and the church in the Reconstruction and Development Programme. Bellville: Ecumenical Foundation of Southern Africa .
13.
Clark, T.N. (1996) Structural realignments in American city politics: less class, more race and a new political culture, Urban Affairs Review, 31, pp. 367-403.
14.
Dalby, S. and Mackenzie, F. (1993) Reconceptualising local community, Area, 29, pp. 99-108.
15.
Drakakis-Smith, D. (1995) Third world cities: sustainable urban development, 1, UrbanStudies, 32, pp. 659-677.
16.
Freund, B. (1994) The RDP: two reviews. Half full? ..., Southern Africa Report - Work in Progress, July, pp. 36-37.
17.
Friedmann, J. (1996) Rethinking poverty: empowerment and citizen's rights , International Social Science Journal, 148(June) pp. 161-172.
18.
Gaye, M. and Diallo, F. (1997) Community participation in the management of the urban environment in Rufisque, Senegal, Environment and Urbanisation , 9, pp. 9-30.
19.
Grant, J. (1994) On some uses of planning 'theory': rhetoric and expertise in community planning disputes, Town Planning Review , 65, pp. 59-76.
20.
Hamdi, N. and Goethert, R. (1997) Action Planning for Cities. Chichester: Wiley.
21.
Lyons, M. and Smuts, C. (1999) Community agency in the new South Africa: a comparative approach, UrbanStudies, 36, pp. 2151-2166.
22.
Lyons, M., Smuts, C. and Stephens, A. (2001) The impact of a changing policy framework on isolated communities: generic problems in participatory development, Habitat International (forthcoming).
23.
Marshall, S. (1998) Architecture as empowerment: the participatory approach in contemporary architecture in South Africa, Transformation , 35, pp. 103-123.
24.
McArthur, A. (1995) The active involvement of local residents in strategic community partnerships, Policy and Politics, 23, pp. 61-71.
25.
Mitlin, D. and Thompson, J. (1995) Participatory approaches in urban areas: strengthening civil society or reinforcing the status quo?, Environment and Urbanisation, 7(1), pp. 231-250.
26.
Padayachee, V. (1994) Can the RDP survive the IMF?, Southern Africa Report — Work in Progress, July, pp. 25-28.
27.
Perkins, D.D., Brown, B.B. and Taylor, R.B. (1996) The ecology of empowerment: predicting participation in community organisations, Journal of Social Issues, 52, pp. 85-110.
28.
Pezzoli, K. (1997) Sustainable development: a transdisciplinary overview of the literature, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management , 40, pp. 549-574.
29.
Rakodi, C. (1991) Developing institutional capacity to meet the housing needs of the urban poor: experience in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, Cities, 8, pp. 228-245.
30.
Sanderson, I. (1999) Participation and democratic renewal: from 'instrumental' to 'communicative' rationality?, Policy and Politics, 27, pp.325-341.
31.
Selman, P. (1998) Local Agenda 21: substance or spin?, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 41, pp. 533-553.
32.
Sharp, E.B. (1996) Culture wars and city politics, Urban Affairs Review, 31, pp. 738-758.
33.
Somerville, P. (1998) Empowerment through residence, Housing Studies, 13, pp. 233-257.
34.
Waddock, S.A. (1989) Understanding social partnerships: an evolutionary model of partnership organisations, Administration and Society , 21, pp. 78-100.
35.
Waddock, S.A. (1991) A typology of social partnership organisations , Administration and Society, 22, pp. 480-515.
36.
WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development) ( 1987) Our Common Future. New York : Oxford University Press.
37.
Wilson, P.A. (1996) Empowerment: community economic development from the inside out, UrbanStudies, 33, pp. 617-630.
38.
World Bank Group (1999) The World Book Participation Sourcebook. Available at http://www.worldbank.org/afr/particip/keycon.htm.
39.
Zippay, A. (1995) The politics of empowerment, Social Work, 40, pp. 263-268.
