Participatory development

This process facilitates engagement with information and communication technology (ICT) with the goal of strengthening individual and social development.

This participatory content creation is an important tool for poverty reduction strategies and creating a digitally inclusive knowledge society.

GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit), a German development agency, describes participation as "co-determination and power sharing throughout the program cycle".

[12] The goal is to enhance "communication, respect, listening and learning between development workers and those they serve"[13] in order to achieve more applicable, "useful outcomes".

[12] Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is one example of mutual learning, a form of research which acknowledges that "illiterate, poor, marginalized people [can] represent their own lives and livelihoods ... do their own analysis and come up with their own solutions".

[14] Some hope that PD will be able to cause a shift in power relations by "valorizing ... voices" that usually go unheard by political and development groups.

[17] The Zapatista Army of National Liberation movement can be viewed as an example of local people "claiming" space to advocate for political change.

[18] Research conducted by several development agencies (World Bank, CIDA, USAID, IRDP) suggests that there are many benefits to be gained through the use of PD.

Community dialogue and augmentation may initially involve only a few individuals, whereas dropped food aid reaches hundreds of people.