Performing communicative functions in development projects: An exploratory study of development practices in Tanzania

► Researchers investigate practices of 13 development projects in Tanzania. ► Personnel encourage prioritization by community in needs assessment. ► Open communication and continuous engagement is used to seek community support. ► Personnel are facilitators when involving community during design and implementation. Literature regarding communicative tasks for development projects describes methodologies such as open planning, reaching consensus, and conducting community meetings; however, detail regarding how to perform these methods and functions is lacking. Here, interviews with project personnel, focus groups, and informal questioning with beneficiaries in 13 Tanzanian development projects across a range of sectors generate sets of practices enacted in the field to perform communicative functions. Results show that during needs assessment, personnel seek diverse community involvement in prioritization meetings. Personnel also establish various means to have consistent engagement with different community members for community support. To involve the beneficiaries through participation, personnel initiate community design groups and networks of implementing community members. These findings are useful in advancing practitioners’ understanding of communicative functions, informing their future practice, and ultimately improving the projects they manage.