Beyond the Linear Logic of Project Aid Alternative: Understandings of Participation and Community Vitality

Since the mid-1980s, international development agencies have been responding to critiques of the ‘development industry ’ by redirecting their assistance to (1) participatory community development initiatives and (2) targeted project-based aid. These two strategies are rooted in different worldviews and based on contradictory understandings of the nature of social transformation. This paper explores how recent research on complex adaptive systems, ancient Eastern philosophies, and the experiences of participatory development practitioners challenge the linear logic of conventional development interventions. It concludes with the implications of a non-linear world view for participation, community development, and alternative development frameworks like Gross National Happiness