Participation, Negotiation and Poverty: Encountering the Power of Images : Designing Pro-Poor Development Programmes

The involvement of Non-Governmental Organizations, as actors within civil society, has profound value in development theory and practice. NGOs focus not only on the eradication of poverty, but also commit themselves to facilitation of the transformation of the structures and processes that constrain the poor. At the grassroots level, this agenda has largely been pursued through participatory practice and the channelling of extra resources using projects. The practicality of participation, however, has not adequately accommodated political realities that undermine the critical processes of articulation, decision-making and acting that the poor go through (that is agency).