This paper attempts to simplify and explain the development process. It canvasses a micro, incremental Community Participation (CP) and Basic Needs Approach (BNA) to achieving and sustaining improved living conditions for the underprivileged and marginalised socio-economic groups in developing economies. Community participation is operationalised as a people-centred, skill-enhancing and empowerment device. It seeks to enlist the active involvement and influential participation of intended beneficiaries of development programmes in needs identification, prioritisation, project initiation, financing, execution, monitoring, evaluation, and consequent sustainability. The paper argues that, community participation as an alternative approach to development, requires alternative communication types, channels and strategies in the pursuit, actualisation and sustainability of development objectives. It differentiates between communicational improvement and operational communication, appraises the potentials and limitations of communication in development and suggests the use of participatory, community-based, small-group media for effective community participation and sustainable development.
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