Local Participation, Organization and Negotiation

One strategy used by several development initiatives and projects to become more self-sustainable is to promote local participation, organization and negotiation.

Many initiatives find that their interventions become more sustainable when local participation, organization and negotiation are at the center of their work. After all, local actors know better than anyone what the problems that affect them are, as well as what resources are locally available to tackle them, which is why they can often come up with solutions to address challenges in a more systemic and comprehensive manner. In addition, the fact that local populations are taken into account and participate in decision-making makes the process more equitable because it allows for a better balance of everyone’s needs and interests.

When the members of a community become involved by contributing knowledge, ideas, resources and work to a development initiative, or by providing their proximity and vigilance, projects often become more collaborative and transparent, which conveys trustworthiness and attracts the participation of more external support. 

Local stakeholder organizations, assemblies and other mechanisms for local participation and organization can provide valuable feedback that will help when planning and adapting projects to become more self-sustainable –especially if the participants’ diversity is made the most of with strategies such as rotating management. In addition, relying on local stakeholder organizations allows for a better distribution of roles and responsibilities that may help cover hours and areas of work that would otherwise cost money, while helping identify resources or infrastructure that can be leveraged.

As local participation and organization are often very difficult to promote, some initiatives design dynamics or work models to encourage participation and collaboration: some organize alternative systems of exchange that facilitate organization in the communities to solve common problems (such as bartering). Others form local governments or new organizations to decentralize decision-making (such as school parliaments); others facilitate participatory diagnosis activities (such as the creation of community maps) to gather everyone’s opinions and priorities; and still others launch mobilization campaigns on social or other media with the help of influencers or celebrities.

Some other initiatives promote the education and training of local actors so that, in the long run, they may acquire skills and knowledge that will be useful for them to organize and participate in the solution of their problems. Others establish co-management agreements. Still others focus on improving internal or local communication mechanisms to build trust amongst local communities and motivate them to participate by demonstrating their processes and objectives clearly and transparently.