Design of public participation process

Design of participation processes for public and private organizations

1.    Why participation in the public and the private realm?

There are many reasons for involving the public or employees into decision making and they differ for each case. In the public sphere nowadays public participation is in many cases a legal requirement. But there are more substantial reasons:

a. Public participation can counterbalance the increasing disenchantment of many citizens with the democratic political system. Involving them directly in decision making not only informs them about the issues of the day but gives them a sense to be part of a greater whole in which in which each voice counts, makes a difference and in which the other is respected and listened to – especially when there is disagreement. In private companies employee participation can restore a sense of “we”, combat disengagement and cynicism.  

b. The challenges of public policy but also of companies are often complex and frequently cannot be answered without taking into account the wealth of existing local knowledge. To give just one example: It is often local citizens who know about whether the road passing the school is too large or too small, where local river banks risk to receive pollution and who could take an initiative to develop the local agriculture.  If needed this knowledge can then usefully be combined with the expertise of specialists.

c. A third reason for participation is to find political support for decisions. Citizens as well as employees might have different views from policy makers and bosses about what should be done but once they have agreed on something (and these discussions can and often should include experts and decision makers), the leaders can be sure to get strong approval if they implement the proposal.

d. Finally participation can and should have festive elements such as common meals and events. In this way, as well as because of the respectful way of the exchanges taking place participation contributes to the social life of a community or a company and can increase its cohesion

For all these reasons citizen and employee participation is gaining recognition 

2.    The science and art of public participation – how to implement it

Organizing participation involves a number of delicate issues. This is why it is useful to work with participation specialists who “have been there” and know these issues from many experiences.

a. The role of the decision maker. Participation inevitably requires to reflecting on the role and objectives of of r the decision makers. Will s/he provide input or not? How exactly will s/he take into account the view of the public/ of the employees? There are always different options which need to be adapted to specific objectives, dynamics and resources. 

b. How to analyse the issues, how the actors?

c. How to move from the analysis of a problem and of the actors involved to the strategic development of a participatory process?

d. How to work with actors whose interests diverge in a constructive and motivating way?

e. How to move from the representation of individual or collective interests to the adoption of shared perspectives?

f. What effects will the participatory process produce? How should they be evaluated?

To answer these and other questions the participation process needs to be carefully designed.

There are choices to be made at all stages of the process, from the initial concept to the facilitation of the actual participatory activities.

Our goal is to provide the services of designing the participatory process to those decision-makers who wish to include a bigger number of actors into the management of their territory or their organization. We use our expertise to design, implement and evaluate participatory process in the fields of:

• Public participation in territorial development (concertation territoriale)
• Development projects
• Organizational change

We work with our clients to identify the scope of a possible participatory project (to what extent they are ready to take into account the propositions coming from the participants) and the ways in which the participants will be giving their input. Secondly, we work with the participants to identify their needs and the ways in which the project would have to be adopted to answer these needs. By choosing relevant tools and methods and by planning the process, we ensure that the information generated by the participants can be translated into action. Finally, we animate the process using various facilitation techniques and innovative participatory tools.

See our references