Enhancing participation of local people: some basic principles and an example from Burkina Faso

The enhancement of participation first of all requires that people are treated as knowledgeable and trustworthy actors. The interaction between outside staff and local people should be given shape in flexible, "learning" programmes, not in single-design, "knowing" projects. Exemplified by a rural programme of environmental improvement in the Sahel, the programmatic principles of non-doing, non-paying, non-forcing and "development stages" are dealt with. The article is rounded off by a reflection on the conflict between local and supralocal interests, often encountered in wetland management. © 1991.