Twelve Lessons on Participatory Community Development
From the UNCHS Community Development Programme
 by Chris Williams, PhD
Training Handout

Lessons learned in the 14 year UNCHS (Habitat)
Community Development Programme

Twelve Lessons on Participatory Community Development:

 Communities have a right to participate in decisions that affect
 their living and working conditions.
 Only participation with decision-making power is sustainable and
 creative.

 Genuine participation requires community involvement in all phases
 of city, town and village improvements: planning, implementation,
 maintenance and monitoring.

 Participation must build on gender equality and include youth and
 the elderly.

 Capacity development is essential to promote equitable participation
 between women, men and youth.

 Communities do have a hidden resource for participating in city,
 town and village development; capacity development can release this
 resource.

 Communities are prime stakeholders among development actors to
 identify problems, improve and maintain their settlements.

 Awareness and capacity development can make partnerships among
 communities, NGOs and municipal authorities more equitable.

 Community development which is planned by external persons and
 only requires communities' free labour, is unlikely to be accepted
 by communities at large.

 Planning of participation is one of the most frequently overlooked
 elements of community development.

 Charity makes communities dependent upon aid.

 Community development is an essential contribution to overall
 urban management.

 Recorded by: Phil Bartle, PhD

 These learned lessons were researched by the ISS in the Hague.

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Updated: 2003 May 12