Quantitative Models for Participation Evaluation in Community Development: A Theoretical Review

Abstract: This article is an interdisciplinary review of the issue of participation evaluation. It is our contention that each and every scale and model developed to measure participation in community development approach falls under either the theory of empowerment or the theory of participatory democracy. The article also provides a detailed summary of prominent models for participation evaluation in community development practices with regard to socio-political theories supporting these models. In addition, both the weak and strong points of each model are discussed and a number of suggestions and implications for providing a comprehensive understanding of the participation issue are provided. Key words: Community Development Participation Evaluation Empowerment Participatory Democracy INTRODUCTION launched, there is no doubt that participation of According to the World Bank’s Learning Group on community development program. In fact, after the failure Participatory Development [1], participation is a process of almost all development programs in colonies in the through which the stakeholders influence and share early twentieth-century, considerable attention shifted to control over development programs and the decisions the human aspect and the participation of stakeholder