WPS 3209

# **Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review**

## _Ghazala Mansuri and Vijayendra Rao_

_Community-based (and driven) development (CBD) projects have become an important form of development assistance, with the World Bank’s portfolio alone approximating 7 billion dollars. This paper reviews the conceptual foundations of CBD/CDD initiatives. Given the importance of the topic, there are, unfortunately, a dearth of well-designed evaluations of such projects. There is, however, enough quantitative and qualitative evidence, from studies that have either been published in peer-reviewed publications or have been conducted by independent researchers, to gain some instructive lessons. We find that projects that rely on community participation have not been particularly effective at targeting the poor. There is some evidence that CBD/CDD projects create effective community infrastructure, but not a single study establishes a causal relationship between any outcome and_ **_participatory_** _elements of a CBD project. Most CBD projects are dominated by elites and, in general, the targeting of poor communities as well as project quality tend to be markedly worse in more unequal communities. However, a number of studies find a U shaped relationship between inequality and project outcomes. We also find that a distinction between potentially “benevolent” forms of elite domination and more pernicious types of “capture” is likely to be important for understanding project dynamics and outcomes. Several qualitative studies indicate that the sustainability of CBD initiatives depends crucially on an enabling institutional environment, which requires upward commitment. Equally, the literature indicates that community leaders need to be downwardly accountable to avoid a variant of ‘supply driven demand driven development’. Qualitative evidence also suggests that external agents strongly influence project success. However, facilitators are often poorly trained and inexperienced, particularly when programs are rapidly scaled up. Overall, a naïve application of complex contextual concepts like “participation”, “social capital” and “empowerment”-is endemic among project implementers and contributes to poor design and implementation. In sum, the evidence suggests that CBD/CDD is best done in a context-specific manner, with a long time-horizon, and with careful and well designed monitoring and evaluation systems._

### World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3209, February 2004

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at _<u>http://econ.worldbank.org</u>_ <u>.</u> Ghazala Mansuri is an economist in the Development Economics Research Group at the World Bank; her email address is gmansuri@worldbank.org. Vijayendra Rao is a senior economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank; his email address is vrao@worldbank.org. The authors are grateful to Evan Dennis and Lupin Rahman for excellent research assistance and Hans Binswanger, Rob Chase, Monica Das Gupta, Gershon Feder, Emanuela Galasso, Keith McLean, David Mosse, Dan Owen, Berk Ozler, Jean-Philippe Platteau, Menno Pradhan, Martin Ravallion, Jesse Ribot, Tara Vishwanath, David Warren, Howard White, Michael Woolcock, three anonymous referees, and several colleagues at seminars and informal discussions at the International Food Policy Research Institute and the World Bank for valuable comments. The article was co-sponsored by the Development Economics Research Group and the Social Development Anchor of the World Bank.

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