Understanding the Participatory Development approach to Solid Waste Management -A case study of Mnyamatsini, Swaziland

Abstract: In the field of development studies, few concepts have gained as much prominence as the Participatory Development (PD) approach, which emphasizes on putting the poor and marginalized groups at the heart of development policy planning practices. Central to the PD approach is bottom-up management of development policymaking and practices, which considers learning, empowerment and local ownership as both a means to an end, and an end in itself. However, it has not gone without criticism, especially with regards to conceptual slips in visualizing community as a homogenous group, and underestimating the embedded power relations. This paper relies on the concept of PD and the related criticisms as a lens to understand the participation behavior in a bottom-up waste management project in Mnyamatsini, a semi-rural area of Swaziland. The project, ‘Mbabane Dry Sanitation and Waste Management’ (MDSWM) uses the PD approach as a core element to enable the project’s efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability and ultimately to contribute to solving the poor waste management practices in the community. However, central to the project’s success is the level of local participation of community members as both implementers and users. The findings of the paper demonstrate that the local community’s participation or not in the project as users and implementers is determined by a complex interplay of factors, including social relations, ownership issues and environmental health aspects. This complexity requires in this context, a “middle-ground” approach between “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches to this development project.