Citizen participation is not community development

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Abstract
Citizen participation and community development share a fundamental value orientation but are really distinct programs. Community development practitioners enjoy a unique position in respect to community‐level intervention because of their citizen‐centered approaches. In this study government‐centered approaches to citizen involvement in decision making are contrasted with citizen‐centered approaches on a seven‐position continuum. Community development is presented as being concerned with creating viable problem‐solving groups in the community and building the capacity of these groups to take on increasingly complex tasks while avoiding dependency on “outside” powers.

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