Paper long abstract:

Participatory approaches to development have gained increased prominence over the past decade, encompassing ideas about the desirability of citizens actively engaging in the institutions, policies and discourses which shape their access to resources.

Central to participatory approaches is the concept of human agency. Purposive individual action is seen as potentially radical and transformatory. Through everyday social practices, participation in public institutions and political engagement people can re-negotiate norms, challenge inequalities, claim and extend their rights.

In this paper, I draw on previous work on natural resource management and current work on community based workers to explore understandings of the ways in which individual human agency shapes and is shaped by institutions and social structures. The intention is to explore the factors which constrain and enable the exercise of agency for different people (participants and community workers). Why are some individuals better placed to participate, politically engage and shape decision-making than others? And what are the implications for interventions to facilitate such participation?