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Participatory Development: A Sustainable Approach for Reducing Inequality and Fighting Poverty? The Example of Disability Policies in Afghanistan

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The Capability Approach, Empowerment and Participation

Part of the book series: Rethinking International Development series ((RID))

Abstract

In this chapter, Bakhshi and Trani take discussions of empowerment and participation from a capability perspective further. They argue that despite the well-intended claims of international frameworks and actors, ownership and empowerment have been misused in development practice as well as theory. Development efforts can be criticised for failing to take into consideration the voices of the most vulnerable in given contexts. This is illustrated with reference to the evolution of a disability programme in post-Taliban Afghanistan. The first part of their chapter shows that most development programmes, including the Afghan project, define participation in narrow terms to involve little more than basic service delivery communicated through ‘consultations’ with select local stakeholders. The agency aspect of the capability approach, which has the potential to empower the marginalised and socially excluded, is lost altogether. The second part of their chapter shows how the absence of well-defined principles for participation and effective change in fragile contexts, such as Afghanistan, affects progress towards improving the lives of aid ‘recipients’ and pose serious threats to the sustainability of development projects. The authors advance strong arguments for involving the ‘recipients of aid’ in all phases of development projects and for transferring power to enhance agency.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Latest available years from World Bank (2018).

  2. 2.

    Unexploded Ordinance/Improvised Explosive Devise.

  3. 3.

    The Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled (2001–2006) became part of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in 2007 and the later became Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Martyrs and Disabled (since 2008).

  4. 4.

    In Afghanistan, the principle government office charged with safeguarding the interests of persons with disabilities is the MMD which was established at the beginning of the Soviet influence in Afghanistan with the aim to pay welfare pensions to the families of those killed in war and to war disabled people. The Ministry continues to follow its initial mandate and still provides pensions to an expanding recipient base (in 2003) which includes those who have lost more than 30% of mobility, sight or hearing. The MMD was originally supposed to develop and deliver a comprehensive package of services to the disabled community in order to enable effective participation in economic life but never managed to succeed in terms of launching such a programme.

  5. 5.

    The PEACE (Poverty Eradication and Community Empowerment) initiative was a joint integrated development strategy under a UNDP umbrella with FAO, Habitat and the UNOPS Afghan Rural Rehabilitation Programme (ARRP). The PEACE initiative seeks to graft technical programmes (CDAP and FAO) onto community mobilization structures set up by Habitat in the towns and ARRP in the rural areas. See UNDP (1997).

  6. 6.

    Trani (2004).

  7. 7.

    ‘Involvement of stakeholders and civil society will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the works. For example participation of civil society group in the management of disability resource centre creates a sense of ownership with the disability community’ (UNDP, 2007).

  8. 8.

    The estimated budget for 2005–2007 was US $ 1,200,000, and the donors were USAID, UNDP, JAPAN, and the French Trust Fund (UNDP, 2005, p. 24).

  9. 9.

    Although Disability programmes always have a gender perspective, mainstream programmes address the two separately.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brown School and Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Parul Bakhshi

  2. Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Jean-François Trani

Authors
  1. Parul Bakhshi
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  2. Jean-François Trani
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    David Alexander Clark

  2. Action Research for CO-Development (ARCO), PIN-Educational and Scientific Services for the University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    David Alexander Clark  & Mario Biggeri  & 

  3. Department of Economics and Management, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Mario Biggeri

  4. Development Planning Unit, University College London, London, UK

    Alexandre Apsan Frediani

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Bakhshi, P., Trani, JF. (2019). Participatory Development: A Sustainable Approach for Reducing Inequality and Fighting Poverty? The Example of Disability Policies in Afghanistan. In: Clark, D.A., Biggeri, M., Frediani, A.A. (eds) The Capability Approach, Empowerment and Participation. Rethinking International Development series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-35230-9_7

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