Whose Participation Counts? Towards Technology-Mediated Equitable Futures of Development Work

Participatory approaches may empower community members toward their development; however, structural and identity-based factors may impede equitable participation. It, thus, becomes imperative to critically examine the politics, dynamics, and rhetoric of participation in development contexts. We deconstruct the meaning, means, and need for participation by situating our study in the Indian government's growing efforts to digitalize a nationwide scheme implemented to support rural farmers' participation in natural resource management (NRM) to achieve secure employment while building climate change resilience. Capturing the situated essence through field studies that include observations, interviews, and focus groups, we systematically analyze challenges to participation in NRM and uncover the technological gaps affecting its workflow digitalization. We discuss sociotechnical considerations to meaningfully design and integrate digital technologies toward supporting just participation in achieving sustainable development.