This document discusses participation in development. It defines participation as people's involvement in decision-making, program implementation, and benefits, as well as their role in evaluation. There are two main types of participation: instrumental participation focuses on project outcomes and sustainability, while transformative participation empowers communities to take independent action to improve their situation. The document also examines conceptual contexts around development, inclusion and exclusion, and criteria for classifying different levels of participation, from passive to self-mobilization. It explores how participation and citizenship are linked, with citizenship participation based on extending participation rights.

1. Jorge Carrillo
20th June 2012
NOTES ON PARTICIPATION

2. PRESENTATION
• Introduction
• Conceptual context
• Defining participation
• Types of participation
• The role of participation

3. INTRODUCTION
• Component of development
• Better delivery system
• More suitable services
• Ownership leading to more sustainability
• Platform for political activism

4. Discussion
What is development?
Who should guide development?
Who is responsible for development?

5. CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT (1)
• Development
• Different from growth
• Institutional change
• Values, rules
• Organizations
• Well-being
• Objective + Subjective
• Capabilities and dignity

6. 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

7. 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

8. Discussion
What systems exist already that help people
contribute or participate?
Who actually make use of these systems?

9. 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)

10. Participation
Instrumental
Efficiency
Tool/means
Activity
oriented
Transformative
Empowering
End/goal
Developmental

11. 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

14. 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.

15. Discussion
Which are the most common forms of
participation?
Who cannot participate? Why?

16. 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

17. 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

18. Citizenship
Social
participation
Political
participation