According to the World Bank (1996, p. 6), “[p]articipation is a process by which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives and the decisions and resources that affect them”. Participation has been a component of different approaches to development, but with varying nuances. The concept gained prominence at the international level mainly between the late 1980s and early 1990s, when organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank resorted, among others, to the concept of ‘participatory development’ as an “antidote” to the problems related to their development projects (Oakley, 1995).