02130nas a2200169   4500000000100000008004100001260003400042653001800076653001600094653002600110653001800136100001100154700001500165245015200180520160300332022002501935       2024                            d  bOxford University Press (OUP)10aParticipation10aEmpowerment10aCommunity development10aSocial Change1 aKhan S1 aEversole R00aReproducing poverty through participation: examining the constraints of community development strategies in fostering empowerment and social change3 a<p>Community participation is often heralded as a remedy to the disadvantages faced by marginalized people, with the assumption that it catalyses empowerment and social change. However, in development practice, this view may overlook the intricate power dynamics that reinforce marginalization and how they interplay within local communities and with external developers. This paper seeks to examine how power relations in and beyond the local level influence participatory community development initiatives and their potential to challenge or reinforce disadvantage. It focuses on the Rural Support Programmes Network’s much-touted ‘three-tier social mobilization strategy’ in Northwest Pakistan as a qualitative case study, using participant and non-participant observation, document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate that active participation by local people in community development processes does not always catalyse empowerment and social change. Without a deliberate reconfiguration of traditional exclusionary power relations, participation in community initiatives may simply perpetuate social exclusion for disadvantaged groups. Existing social structures allow traditionally powerful people to use participatory processes to reproduce and or/further reinforce their power and control via ‘strategic compliance’. The study concludes that community development programmes require a nuanced understanding of power dynamics and a deliberate effort to reconfigure those dynamics to foster meaningful engagement and empowerment of disadvantaged groups.</p>
  a0010-3802, 1468-2656