Paper short abstract:

Community Participation is noted as one of the key pillars for Sustainable Development. It is long presented as a tool for reinforcing accountability, genuine sense of ownership and social justice. This paper will focus in its contestable yet taken for granted aspects.

Paper long abstract:

Community participation is noted as one of the key pillars for sustainable development. International Development community has long presented the power of community participation in reinforcing accountability, genuine sense of ownership and social justice. While in agreement with some of the long established links of community participation and Sustainable Development, this paper will focus in its contestable yet taken for granted aspects.

Drawing on Ethnographic data collected from Rural Ethiopia where sentiments of 'community participation for sustainable development' is echoed by the State, this paper highlights the complexities of community participation and implications from it in rural context.

Drawing on analysis of rural community participatory initiatives in the context of under resourced schools, it reveals issues of power, repercussions, and unintended marginalisation of categories of rural people. The paper calls for expanded understanding of community participation and its relevance to Sustainable Development.