Jorge Carrillo

20th June 2012

NOTES ON PARTICIPATION

PRESENTATION

• Introduction

• Conceptual context

• Defining participation

• Types of participation

• The role of participation

INTRODUCTION

• Component of development

• Better delivery system

• More suitable services

• Ownership leading to more sustainability

• Platform for political activism

Discussion

What is development?

Who should guide development?

Who is responsible for development?

CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT (1)

• Development

• Different from growth

• Institutional change

• Values, rules

• Organizations

• Well-being

• Objective + Subjective

• Capabilities and dignity

CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT (2)

• Inclusion/exclusion

• Barriers

• Financial: fees, opportunity cost

• Legal: registrations, citizenship

• Socio-cultural: discrimination because of gender, ethnicity, physical

ability, age

• Political: political decisions that exclude

• Exclusion and vulnerability

• Inclusion and participation

• Stakeholder analysis

DEFINING PARTICIPATION

• …participation includes people's involvement in decision-making processes, in implementing programmes, their sharing in the benefits of development programmes and their involvement in efforts to evaluate such programmes

• …stands for partnership which is built upon the basis of dialogue among the various actors, during which the agenda is jointly set, and local views and indigenous knowledge are deliberately sought and respected. This implies negotiation rather than the dominance of an externally set project agenda. Thus people become actors instead of being beneficiaries

• …organised efforts to increase control over resources and regulative institutions in given social situations on the part of groups and movements of those hitherto excluded from such control

• …process of empowerment of the deprived and the excluded. This view is based on the recognition of differences in political and economic power among different social groups and classes. Participation in this sense necessitates the creation of organisations of the poor which are democratic, independent and self-reliant

Discussion

What systems exist already that help people

contribute or participate?

Who actually make use of these systems?

TYPES OF PARTICIPATION

• Instrumental (often linked to project cycle)

• use of participation instrumentally, to achieve better project outcomes or greater

sustainability in development terms, for instance by mobilizing beneficiaries’

contributions through their involvement in implementation, or by increasing project

acceptance, local ownership and sustainability

• Transformative

• a process that empowers the poor and strengthens their capacity to take

independent collective action in order to improve their own situation (and can, in

some cases, even lead to changes in the distribution of power, as successful

collective action and the associated increase in awareness and self -confidence lead

the poor to claim a larger share of power and resources in the community)

Participation

Instrumental

Efficiency

Tool/means

Activity oriented

Transformative

Empowering

End/goal

Developmental

CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFICATION

• Degrees of participation on a continuum

• Direction of communication flows

• Theoretical basis, essentially distinguishing between normative

and/or pragmatic participation

• Objectives for which participation is used

• Topic

Type of Participation Some Components and Characteristics

Passive Participation People are told what is going to happen or has already happened. Top

down, information shared belongs only to external professionals.

Participation in information giving People answer questions posed by extractive researchers, using surveys

etc. People not able to influence the research.

Participation by consultation People are consulted and external agents listen to their views. Usually

externally defined problems and solutions. People not really involved in

decision making. Participation as consultation.

Participation by material incentives Provision of resources, e.g. labor. Little incentive to participate after the

incentives end, for example much farm research, some community

forestry.

Functional Participation Groups are formed to meet predetermined objectives. Usually done after

major project decisions are made, therefore initially dependent on

outsiders but may become self dependent and enabling. Participation as

organization.

Interactive Participation Joint analysis to joint actions. Possible use of new local institutions or

strengthening existing ones. Enabling and empowering so people have a

stake in maintaining structures or practices.

Self-Mobilisation Already empowered, take decisions independently of external institutions.

May or may not challenge existing inequitable distributions of wealth and

power. Participation as empowering.

Discussion

Which are the most common forms of

participation?

Who cannot participate? Why?

THE CHANGING ROLE OF PARTICIPATION

• Community participation: development projects

• Political participation: indirect representation, through elections and legislative apparatus.

• Democratization

• Equality and social justice

• Human rights

• Need to accommodate gender perspective

• Drive towards good governance and rule of law

• Cultural context

PARTICIPATION AND CITIZENSHIP

• Citizenship participation is based on a concept of citizenship that has been extended to

include more than social and economic rights, to include the right to participation as a

basic human right

• Participation as a citizenship right provides an entry point for a redefinition of participation

that recognises the significance of power differentials and dynamics in participatory

spaces

Beneficiary Citizen

Project Policy

Consultation Decision-making

Micro Macro

Citizenship

Social

participation

Political

participation