The current practices of formulating and providing development aid often fail to substantively improve the long term conditions of the poor. Policies are established at the top and local initiatives and needs cannot be effectively addressed. Conventional project management principles prevent the spontaneity and responsiveness that might allow the program to respond to local needs. This book argues for a bottom-up approach to development and demonstrates that suitable systems can be developed which will yield faster and more sustainable results. By providing specific and practical examples, this book helps practitioners to apply these insights to their own work, while also helping theoreticians and students to develop a strong analytical framework on the subject.