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DPC APPROACH
DPC subscribes to the goals of sustainable development (SD). This implies DPC will focus its consultancy and social enterprise projects in pursuit of economic productivity and growth, balanced by social equity. Development, here defined as the fulfillment of the human potential, takes place through the increase of wealth resulting from the productive and efficient use of resources.
But for this economic growth to proceed unhampered, it must be accompanied by greater social integration, political stability as well as confidence in the future by investors and citizens. To ensure these, society must therefore promote peace, justice and the rights of people as established by universal conventions. Growth with equity, to be sustainable, must further be conditioned by environmental soundness or the protection of the right of future generations to enjoy the same resources that the present generation have.
DPC recognizes the complexity of these goals and the possible conflicts among the wide range of views of the various interests involved. To resolve this issue, institutional changes would be required in the way development projects are planned and managed. DPC will therefore adopt participatory or “communicative” methods in carrying out sustainable development projects. These will further increase project effectiveness and sustainability.
DPC thus provides to projects a holistic framework (FW) of development.
 In tackling development problems at the community level, DPC applies a similar holistic approach. Central to the analysis is the basic unit of the household (HH). This FW posits that the HH is engaged in a mutually reinforcing process of production or income generation and consumption to sustain a life of human dignity. As it produces and consumes, the HH continuously makes decisions on the what, how much, when, for whom or how. These decisions are shaped by its socio-economic characteristics and by constraints and opportunities from key environment factors.
As a coherent framework, it is particularly useful for identifying the multi-dimensional problems affecting HH members and points to possible intervention areas. It is applied to communities by aggregating an area’s HHs. From a broad perspective, project interventions can then be narrowed down to specific concerns: economic, social, physical, environmental or institutional.
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