Participatory approaches are based on shared ownership of decision-making. This approach is a response to ‘top-down’ approaches to development, in which power and decision-making is largely in the hands of external development professionals. The top-down approach used to be the conventional style of development. However, this had many flaws and was not effective. It also raised questions about whether ‘outsiders’ had the right or the knowledge to set the development agenda of local people. In the 1980s, development workers began to seek more participatory alternatives that avoided some of these problems. They drew on alternative methods of learning and action that, at the time, represented a radical change. In general, this change has been embraced as a positive shift in development practice. Table 1 compares some of the differences between the two approaches.