People participation, basis of social development

Social development undoubtedly requires people participation in different domains. It seems without participation, we cannot achieve a people-centered, inclusive and sustainable social development. In the social development process, all citizens with various ethnic and religious interests are able to affect on all the social phenomena and variables, based on their competencies and mental capacities. It is indicated that community members should be permanently involved in all steps of developmental projects including planning, financing, implementation and evaluation. They could create such designs with their behaviors and decisions and understand its achievements as products of their behaviors and attitudes. In social development, community participation is more emphasized than individual participation. So, grassroots organizations and public institutions are main participants in the developed process. On the other hand, social development requires participation of different ethnic groups based upon acceptance of their cultures. In other words, attention to recognize ethnic groups, respecting their cultures, and strengthening their participation would be necessary in social development process. One of the people participatory forms of people in social development process is membership in Informal Institutions. This approach should provide conditions to facilitate the ethnic groups’ participation in these institutions and various types of local civil society. Achieving social development goals, we should consider a human-oriented approach to development, away from any kind of discrimination.