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ESCAP views poverty as a complex and multi-dimensional condition having three closely interrelated aspects: the lack of regular income, employment, and productive assets, and lack of access to services (such as social safety nets, water, and sanitation) and the lack of power or opportunity to participate.
Participatory development approaches, which address the third aspect of poverty listed above, have become core components, albeit with various levels of success, in many rural poverty reduction programmes. At present, it is clear that different conditions and circumstances would require different approaches to participation, i.e. one size does not fit all.
This meeting will discuss key issues concerning participatory approaches, poverty reduction and rural development in Asia and the Pacific. The meeting aims to provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences on topics such as the following:
- typologies of participation and their suitability for different situations
- the importance of context
- the nature of the state and decentralization
- participatory development and poverty
- the challenges of scaling up
- participatory governance.
The EGM will provide UN ESCAP with guidance on how it may best incorporate participatory approaches in its work on rural development. |
