Local development cannot be studied without reference to the implication of actors’ system and to its will to build a development project. The partners of local development are key actors in local dynamics. We address in this article the question of the role of the social actor in local development. It targets more particularly the intervention of associations in the bottom-up process of development, considering them as a kingpin of local dynamics. We shall insist on their modalities of intervention, the means used, the visions of local development adopted and the limits met in this context.