In a participatory stance, what development experts have to offer has a much better chance of being accepted and used than when they rely on reports and briefings to share their expertise. Chapter II examples show no signs that experts or their expertise will soon be extinct in the field of development. In fact, biases favoring expert knowledge show up in several of our examples. Participation allows local people to speak for themselves. Through participation, experts may open up other possibilities for local people for incorporation into their own expertise.
Local people are also uniquely expert on what they are willing to change, to what extent, and how.
The challenge for Task Managers is to find ways to bring this local expertise into Bank-supported activities. A related observation target is if the stakeholder's decisions are acceptable to the Bank with regard to its objectives and policies. Traditional engineering, economics, and sector expertise do not include everything needed to build local capacity. Social scientists have much to contribute in this area, as indicated in the Mexico Hydroelectric example. Other observation targets are consensus and commitment.