Abstract:
Sustainability of development became a more substantial concern among developing countries. The
participatory approach to adapt and exercise community participation in the development projects
enriches the sustainability of the development plans. This study has been undertaken to explore the
participatory approach and to discuss the significance of community involvement as a key tool for
sustainable progress of development projects. As it is a conceptual paper, the discussions and
arguments were presented based on secondary sources that were already published. The discussion
revealed that participatory approach, especially the ‘bottom-up approach’ is a useful strategy to
ensure greater degree of community participation in all stages such as preparation, designing,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development initiatives. Also this paper determined
that the mechanism of participatory model (community participation – bottom-up approach) is a key
component to reach the goals, and ensure the success and sustainability of the development projects.
