3.4 Community Development through public participation
3.4.3 The motive for knowledge and power in community development
The relationship between power and knowledge is presented in most papers as 'knowledge is power'. Academics in different disciplines claim that knowledge is power. For example, Vaknin (2000) indicates that power is gained through knowledge, and knowledge is gained through power. He cites Emerson (2000) who believes that power is gained through knowledge. He says 'a man who is well versed in all trades has more knowledge, and in that
knowledge, he is more powerful than a man who knows only a single trade'. One who has experience of several trades becomes powerful over those that know only one trade. A society made of many people with multiple talents is destined for success. A society that unites in a combined effort is stronger than a society of individuals working for themselves. Emerson (2000) says that one must take the whole society to find the whole person
When proving that knowledge is power, En fracias (2004) points out that one may know that one has a problem but not know exactly what it is. According to him, recognising a problem is the first step toward solving it. The next step is to find the kind of services that will best meet one's needs. She further says one should start by getting as much information as one can about one's problem and support available. The more one knows the better decision one will make.
One will have more power and control to deal with the situation.
In support of En francias's claim, Davis (2002) says that self-knowledge is power and he postulates that self-determination is often thought of as the ability to advocate for one's needs.
If a person is self-determined, this means one takes responsibility for getting her/his needs met.
One might find that when s/he takes the initiative to get his/her needs met his /her problem solving and decision-making skills increase and his/her stress is reduced. In the workplace or in educational settings, this kind of proactive behaviour can be the key to success. Likewise, when communities are involved in facilitation of community development activities of tourism projects they are empowered and they gain more skills related to tourism development activities and management skills.
The UNDP (2002) also acknowledges that information is power. The paper argues that the existence of community relevant education programmes and free and open press is among the required empowerment tools for communities' involvement in their own development. Civil society actors can effectively influence government policy and actions if they are well informed. The rapid exchange of information for enhancing public participation in governance issues becomes important because indigenous knowledge base and practices become better appreciation of the broader national challenges and their implications under such conditions.
Sowell (2004:5) states that knowledge is power, but power trumps knowledge politically. This is supported by the fact that there are circumstances where power trumps knowledge more than when those with a particular preconception are in charge of handing out money.
With regard to private tourism projects, owners do not involve communities because they fmd the involvement process time consuming and expensive. Community members are probably ignored because owners are in control. They even undermine the indigenous knowledge of the community with regard to tourism related issues.
If people are not involved at plarming and implementation stages of tourism projects, they are likely to forget skills they already have. Odoro Hoppers (2000) points out that a major threat to the sustainability of natural resources is the erosion of people's knowledge and the basic reason for this erosion is the low value attached to it. The erosion of people's knowledge is associated with natural resources themselves.
Tandon (1998:88) states that the participatory learning perspective entails learning in the concept of doing practice and results in the learning of empowerment. This perspective requires the use of knowledge for empowerment. This is where the principles of participatory research become important because they emphasise the role of knowledge as an instrument of power and control. Participatory research attempts to legitimatize and articulate indigenous knowledge and indigenous ways of gathering, disseminating and utilizing knowledge.
The market-led model of development treats human beings as economic actors without moral, cultural or social capacity. Therefore, strengthening of civil society has the most profound abilityof changing the mind-set and attitudes of large numbers of citizens to take on their rightful role as citizens ofthe new democratic order (Tandon, 1994:336).
A lot of evidence suggests that one carmot participate fully without the necessary prerequisites.
These prerequisites are interdependent. One carmot participate if s/he lacks knowledge and if s/he is not given freedom to exercise herlhis power in decision making on matters affecting his/her life. Involved institutions should provide all prerequisites and be accountable for
application of proper techniques for public participation. Arguments from the ensumg discussion suggest that without power, freedom and knowledge, participation in development projects is likely to fail and that progress towards sustainable Community Development will be hampered. Development agents are expected to bring change in development approaches.
What follows is a discussion of strategies that promote public participation in development projects.