This document, Community-driven development decision tools for rural development programs, is the outcome of a series of studies conducted from 2003-08 by the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on the Community-driven development (CDD) activities and approaches it sponsors in a number of countries in Western and Central Africa (WCA).

CDD is defined as appreciating:

• the role that community-based organizations (CBOs) play in decisions about the economic and social development processes that directly affect the livelihood of their members;
• the development of a culture within public administration that views communities as subjects of change and development partners in their own right, rather than as mere receivers of the benefits of public expenditure.

According to this definition, CDD refers more to the way a policy or a project is designed and implemented than to the content of a policy or to the components of an investment project or program.

The objective of these studies, including this CDD tools document, was to improve the effectiveness of the approaches and operational methods used to design and implement CDD investment programs as a way to further enable rural poor people to overcome poverty in WCA.

This decision tools document is thus the final outcome of five years of studies, debates and workshop discussions. These tools will prove useful to Governments, development practitioners and field technical staff that are financing, designing or implementing CDD projects for rural poverty reduction.

Read Community-driven development decision tools for rural development programs.