PUPLIC
PARTICIPATION
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES
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WHAT
IS PUBLIC PARTICIPATION?
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DIFFERENT
WAYS
TO INVOLVE THE PUBLIC
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ROUND TABLES IN CANADA
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USING
ROUND TABLES IN THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR IN POLAND
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URBAN
GREENING. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN
BANGKOK
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ENLISTING THE PUBLIC TO
CLEAN UP CITIES
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EMPOWERMENT AND PUPLIC PARTICIPATION
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ICSC'S
ROLE AS A BROKER
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ICSC'S
CANADIAN TEAM-
PUPLIC PARTICIPATION AND MULTI-PARTY PROCESSES
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Implications
of the Empowerment Cycle
For public participation practitioners, the fact that groups and
individuals go though certain predictable phases of behavior and
exhibit predictable attitudes, allows the practitioner to assess
where the group is at and to identify appropriate interventions
that would be needed to reinforce the group’s status or move
it to a next stage. Happily, groups will seldom allow anyone to
manipulate them or move them until they are ready, so it is not
really so much a matter of diagnosis and intervention, as it is
a matter of reflecting to the group a picture of its own behavior
and asking where it wants to be or to go.
Understanding the empowerment
cycle may contribute to an understanding of why certain activities
related to public participation take a different course than the
one intended by the government officials or private sector staff
wanting to engage the public or community. Often the public activity
- a consultation, hearing, or public meeting - is intended to
inform or even to listen to the views of stakeholders, but it
is not intended as a vehicle for sharing power or making joint
decisions. Community groups however, may attend believing that
they will have real input and expect that they are entitled to
power. Clarifying the expectations before and during the event
will help. Recognizing as well that public events may be used
differently by different interests is also important. Groups in
the protesting stage will often hijack the process for their own
ends.
The first question to be asked
remains: what is the purpose of the participation process? If
it is to share power and build partnership for joint action, then
one can look to using Round Tables or the Ottawa process. If that
is not the case, given the sophistication of advocacy groups in
the present context it is likely that some of those involved will
try and change the agenda. They will demand more voice and influence.
Thus when one considers building the capacity of groups to influence
decisions and participate more democratically, one must also recognize
the need to build the capacity of governments or the private sector
to respond appropriately to active and demanding groups. The use
of police or para-military to quell protests only escalates polarization
and leads towards conflict rather than towards resolution. Participation
practitioners need to use knowledge of the phases of empowerment
to guide their facilitation efforts and require skills in conflict
management as part of their tool kit.
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