The failure of participative development projects must be thought startigng from their objectives, their contents and the methods used by the government to involve the concerned populations. Yet, in Senegal, at the instigation of the partners, several projects are realized without preliminary consultation and turn out often unsuitable for needs and habits of local populations. Problems in the appropriation of these projects, their execution and expected achievement raise in the way. The author proposes here a report by showing the relevance of the method of rural animation introduced by Mamadou Dia, Senegalese head of government from 1958 till 1962, and identifies paths to think about sociocultural community development’ dynamic as an effective method to conduct development projects more widely in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.