Participatory Development Is Not Only About the Poor: A Case Study of Egypt

Abstract

As an alternative to traditional approaches to development, participatory development programs have been earning increasing attention and funding since its emergence in the 1970s. In the case of Egypt, the Participatory Development Program in Urban Areas (PDP) has been adopted under the argument of boosting economy through the enhancement of people’s freedoms. Previous literature has focused on studying the performance of PDP’s first phase (Piffero, 2009a, 2009b, 2010, and Ibrahim, 2012), hence this paper analyzes the second phase through the cooperation, unity, organization, and cultural synthesis elements of Freire’s dialogical theory of action (1970, 2005). After identifying persistent challenges, the present research argues that focusing solely on the development of the poor is not enough to promote consistent participatory development practices.