51406 SO CI AL DEV ELOPMEN T HOW TO S ER IES | n o . 6 January 2009 FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE: Community Participation, Voice and Representation in CDD/NRM Operations Introduction especially when communities are To remain true to their participatory given the responsibility of identifying principles, effective CDD interventions must which of their members should be not only target the right communities, but also targeted. For example, in Egypt's put measures in place that ensure that Matruh Resource Management representative decision-making processes Project, chiefs decided that those drive all phases of the operation. who had the most cattle had the most "need" despite the fact that they were This "how to note" builds upon a PAD not the neediest from an economic analysis of twenty-two CDD projects and standpoint. interviews with the task team leaders (TTLs) o This example highlights that local of nine CDD/NRM projects conducted in communities may not see "poverty" 2005 (Ribot and Mearns 2005), and acts as a as equivalent to "need"--which companion piece to "Striking a Balance: could cause the CDD operation to Integrating Community Priorities and Natural miss the very people it was designed Resource Management in CDD Operations" to reach. As such, implementers (2009). The purpose of the note is to provide should develop an in-depth task teams and clients with insights that they understanding of the social context can utilize in the process of making decisions and local dynamics before putting about targeting communities, defining who communities in charge of targeting should be included as part of the community, decisions. In doing so they can and facilitating community involvement in ensure that programs are CDD operations. appropriately targeted toward the poorest and most-vulnerable groups. How to Choose Communities for · Ecological/Geographical Criteria: Communities Inclusion in CDD Operations can also be targeted on the basis of their There are a variety of criteria that can geographical location or proximity to potentially be used to determine who should important environmental areas. For be targeted as part of the CDD operation: example, in Niger's National Natural · Poverty and needs-based criteria: One option Resources Management Program, the is to conduct poverty-oriented needs choice of geographic area for the CDD assessments to determine who should be project was influenced by where the Bank included in the target communities for the had made previous NRM interventions. CDD operation. For example, in · Practical Criteria: In certain situations, it Indonesia's Kecamatan Development may be difficult to determine which Project the task team used 26 communities should participate. In these indicators--most of which were aimed at circumstances, implementing teams characterizing the availability of public should consult with government infrastructure--to determine the poverty authorities and/or local leaders to status of villages. In this case, the chosen determine what an appropriate target community was the poor administrative unit for the project is. For inhabitants of the selected villages. example, in Niger where much of the o However, it is important to note that population lives in villages that are too "need" is not a simple criterion, small for typical CDD activities, the CDD SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment 1 SO CI AL DEV ELOPMEN T HOW TO S ER IES | n o . 6 January 2009 project worked with appointed members map onto particular interest- or identity- of the central government to identify based sub-sectors of society such as groups of villages that the project could women, fishers or traders. But other then approach for participation in the groups, such as the poor, may be a cross- operation. cutting composite of identities and · Self selection: In some situations, task teams interests. use self-selection for targeting purposes-- · Interest-based belonging: This method of which allows communities to opt in or classification defines membership based out of the project. For example, in on possessing a shared interest or Morocco's Lakhdar project, staff profession. It may include user groups, conducted an information campaign to cooperatives, and professional clusters-- explain the project to the communities in such as farmers, fishers, or traders. Given the area, many of whom, in the end, were that definitions of community can vary by not interested in the project. Then the ethnicity or geographic area, in some project worked with those communities circumstances it may be easier to make that expressed an interest. After being classifications based on common interests. informed of the intentions, benefits and However, interest-based belonging risks costs of CDD, communities should under-representing other residents always have the option to opt out as part (groups and individuals) within society of the project selection process. who also may be effected by the intervention. How to Define Who is · Identity-based belonging: This category of Part of the Community inclusion considers those people of a After determining whom to target, clients particular identity group, defined by must decide how to define who is actually part ethnicity, religion, age, gender, etc, to be of the community--who belongs. There is members. Identity-based criteria for much conceptual confusion about the belonging may conveniently coincide with meaning of the term "community" in CDD existing regroupings within society. operations. In CDD operations the However, identity-based belonging carries "community" is the group of people who risks of dividing populations along make sub-project choices and should contentious lines that are unrelated to consequently be driving the operation. This project objectives. section outlines different ways that · Residency-based belonging: It is also possible, implementers can determine who should be and highly desirable, to define target included in the community and accordingly, groups as the communities living in the who will participate in sub-project decision project area. Under this classification, making. residency in a geographic or · Beneficiary-based belonging: The term administrative sub-division (villages or "community", as it is used in PADs, regions) defines belonging. implies that communities include all beneficiaries in the target population As the list above highlights, projects can chosen by the project designers. This may, include beneficiary groups, interest groups, for example, be the whole population, the identity groups or whole populations. poor or forest dependent populations. However, it is important to note that how When the project target group is the community is defined varies greatly across population of a given area, this selection projects and that there are advantages and maps directly onto residency-based important disadvantages to various belonging (see below). Otherwise, it may approaches. Indeed, there is a definite tension SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment 2 SO CI AL DEV ELOPMEN T HOW TO S ER IES | n o . 6 January 2009 between serving whole populations and target Representation through elected groups when the whole population includes local institutions can strengthen both target and non-target elements--such as democratic local government if it when disadvantaged populations are mixed is implanted in existing with better-off groups. "democratic" or "community- · Narrower definitions of community driven" local institutions. (beneficiary, identity or interests based) Broad-based inclusion is less o Advantages: divisive than beneficiary, interest, By defining community as a or identity-based forms since particular sub-population the those to whom the benefits are project can more easily ensure not targeted are also included in that this population will drive weighing the costs and benefits decisions and reap the benefits of of the project's activities. the project. Decision making through broadly o Disadvantages: representative bodies does not The sub-group "community" preclude the use of targeting must be represented through a criteria that help decision makers mechanism constructed specially focus attention on the target for the target group. population. Indeed, having all Criteria for inclusion and citizens in involved in developing exclusion are required and may criteria can actually provide be contentious or unfair. added legitimacy to the pro-poor Moreover, because some actors targeting. will be excluded from public o Disadvantages: decision making based on income, Some advantages of using social status, interest, profession, narrower definitions of language or place of origin this community may be lost. kind of division can create Decision making may become political tensions. more complex and time The body representing the group consuming. may not be contiguous with the public writ large leaving non- As the discussion above highlights, the ideal targeted individuals and groups procedure for CDD is to use a residency- un-represented. All citizens have based definition of community and to use a stake in public investments-- local elected bodies to represent all citizens in even citizens who are not the the development of objectives and targeting target group. Therefore, criteria. This allows for the targeting of social excluding non-targeted citizens groups such as the poor, interest groups such from decision making can result as fishers or farmers, or identity groups such in less efficient and effective as women in a manner that takes into account interventions. the concerns of the whole population. · Broad residence-based definition of community: How to Ensure that o Advantages Communities Drive Decision Making Representation can be CDD operations provide mechanisms for institutionalized in elected local communities to drive decision making much authorities and therefore may be more than in other development approaches. more sustainable over time. As such, designing effective CDD operations requires an understanding of communities' SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment 3 SO CI AL DEV ELOPMEN T HOW TO S ER IES | n o . 6 January 2009 role, or lack thereof, in various stages of the Incorporating Communities' project cycle. Priorities into List Formation in China · In the design phase the local target- Most projects begin with some form of needs population participates only in the needs assessment based on interviews or PRA. Needs assessments. The appraisal team may assessment and interview results can, and should, incorporate the knowledge that the target play a big role in shaping sub-project menus. For group provides into the Project Appraisal example, in the Qinba Mountains Poverty Document (PAD). Reduction Project (QBPRP) in China the effort to assess local needs was extensive. The TTL went to · The development of the positive and a sample county with his team, and "fanned out to negative lists which shape how the project villages to ask people what they needed." Indirect proceeds, however, is driven at times community influence on list making was also largely by experiences that Bank staff and exerted when the project team asked practitioners consultants have acquired through and program personnel who had worked or were previous interventions in the area. Indeed, working on poverty reduction projects what they a variety of factors including national had learned from their experiences. The principal history, national priorities, previous lesson was that "if farmers don't want it, it will not projects, the influence of donors, the work." Their findings informed the project design. beliefs of different actors involved, team composition and the success of previous · When completed, the PAD presents a projects impact the formulation of list/menu of potential projects from which positive and negative lists. target populations can ultimately choose. o As the long list of influencing factors o Positive lists tend to be very general. presented above highlights, the For example, in Mali's Natural process of list formation is not a Resources Management Project the straightforward endeavor and is proposed positive list included: all influenced by a wide range of factors. legal prerogatives of the commune o Given that in some instances (elected local government), social communities may be only peripherally investments, cultural investments and involved in the process of generating natural resource investments. the actual lists, task teams must o In contrast, negative lists are much recognize these influences in the more specific. For example, the design phase and take measures to QBPRP in China forbade ensure that the list/menu contains resettlement activities due to options which are consistent with concerns about their environmental peoples' needs and priorities. impacts. It is important to note that Otherwise, the CDD operation will negative lists can have environmental not be able to fulfill its participatory implications in two ways. First, they mandate. may be constructed to avoid projects with negative environmental consequences. Second, they can free up monies that communities could then choose to invest in environmental management endeavors. · At the stage of sub-project selection target populations engage in systematic participation by prioritizing potential investments, costing them out and SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment 4 SO CI AL DEV ELOPMEN T HOW TO S ER IES | n o . 6 January 2009 making a final choice of sub-projects the How to Ensure that community will pursue. It is important to Communities are Represented note that sub-project prioritization, which Even if operations are designed to allow is shaped by the content of the lists or communities to drive decision making in sub- menus presented to the community, is the project selection, they must also identify key point where communities can drive effective representation mechanisms to decision making. Therefore, what is on advance CDD operations' participatory aims. the lists, and why, is very important. · Projects use a large range of mechanisms · At the implementation stage the form of to promote community inclusion such as participation changes drastically. Here, surveys, participatory processes, many projects contract implementation appointed committees, elected out to third parties (project committees, interest groups, associations, implementation units). Local authorities chieftaincies, and representation through and communities may or may not be existing elected local authorities. These represented in or have control over this different mechanisms of inclusion have portion of the project lifecycle, though important implications for the they may be involved in monitoring and accountability of those actors making evaluation or other activities. decisions on behalf of local populations. Indeed, if appropriate inclusion For CDD projects to be truly driven by mechanisms are not specified and communities--however defined--people carefully chosen, then the project is not need to be involved in, or oversee, every stage likely to be driven by community. of project development. Moreover, while · Inclusion mechanisms in CDD projects communities cannot always be involved in should be designed so that decision choosing the projects' zone of intervention, makers are accountable to the broadest they do need the option to opt out of the cross-section of the population possible. project, as some communities did in Morocco. Designing effective accountability mechanisms requires a clear definition of Communities must also be represented in the "community" and a clear definition of some manner in the development of the sub- who is accountable for representing that project lists. If they are not, the lists should community in decision making. Decision- be left open. The fact of the matter is that maker accountability to the whole sub-project lists drive community choices. population--all residents--should be the They therefore diminish the degree to which aim in CDD whether the target communities drive their development `community' is beneficiary, residency, decisions. Some projects have gotten around interest or identity based. this problem by providing block grants and · PADs should therefore specify in detail working with communities to develop detailed the definition of community to be used in investment plans--including the the project and the process of inclusion determination of who does the implementing or representation by which these and how that implementation is overseen. It communities will drive decision making. may also be possible to give communities the These definitions should be subject to opportunity to challenge or veto the initial broad discussion with the Bank during sub-project list. Whatever strategies task the project preparation process. PADs teams adopt to overcome this challenge, it is will be stronger if they also define important to involve communities in all stages accountability and representation into of the operation. performance objectives with specific performance indicators. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment 5 SO CI AL DEV ELOPMEN T HOW TO S ER IES | n o . 6 January 2009 It is important to note that even if the Further Reading accountability arrangements are generally 1. Ribot, Jesse C., and Robin Mearns. 2005. effective in ensuring that communities are Steering Community Driven Development? A Desk represented, it is usually also necessary to Study of NRM Choices. World Resources design measures that ensure women and other Institute WORKING PAPER NO. 38. 2. Ribot, Jesse C. 2008. Building Local Government marginalized groups are included in the CDD through Natural Resource Interventions: An decision-making process. Environmentalist's Responsibility. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Conclusion 3. Post, David. "Striking a Balance: Integrating CDD operations are unique in that they allow Community Priorities and Natural Resource people to guide the development process Management in CDD Operations." World according to their needs and priorities. Bank, 2009. However, if they are not properly designed, CDD operations risk straying from their The Social Development Department presents the participatory intent. By following the "How to Series", a set of occasional papers aimed at guidelines outlined in this note, task teams can synthesizing social development research and increase the likelihood that communities will operational best practices in a format which is easily accessible to development practitioners. be at the forefront of CDD interventions, ultimately leading to more effective and For more information about the Series, visit us online efficient CDD operations. at www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment or contact us at socialdevelopment@worldbank.org This note was adapted from "Community Driven Development? A Desk Study of NRM Choices," Ribot and Mearns (2005). The note was compiled and authored by David Post. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment 6