Myth of bottom-up model and top-down approach’s failings

Bottom-up model proponent DP William Ruto. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Development from below, bottom-up development, bottom of the pyramid approach, grassroots development - these are some of the phrases planners coined decades ago to support an alternative development model for poor countries.

These have especially gained currency in Kenya as we build-up to the 2022 elections. Implicit in the phrases are assumptions about what is wrong with the dominant development paradigm, popularly called the “top-down/trickle-down” approach.