Making development agents: Participation as boundary object in international development

Despite high transaction and financial costs participatory approaches to development are now standardised across a range of organisations internationally. Participatory planning in various forms is widely used in donor funded local government projects worldwide. This article critically explores the reasons for the continued popularity of participatory approaches. Using examples of cognate participatory processes in Tanzania I show how the outputs of participatory approaches do not justify their continued popularity for development stakeholders. Analytical frameworks from science studies on the social process of collaboration provide insights into the persistence of participatory forms. Participation operates as a boundary object enabling diverse stakeholders to temporarily align themselves around a common project for the purpose of development implementation. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.