Participatory Learning and Action 58 - Towards empowered participation: stories and reflections

June 2008
Guest-edited by Tom Wakeford and Jasber Singh
Order No: 14562IIED

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This special issue critically reflects on those rarely-discussed elements of processes that are disempowering to those with least power. ‘Citizen participation’ has typically elicited enthusiastic support from policy elites. However, past editions of PLA and numerous other studies have suggested that such initiatives have rarely impacted the mainstream political decision-making processes. Often referred to as “citizen engagement” or “public consultation”, these processes may in reality be little more than smokescreens behind which the systems of democratic accountability fought for by progressive social movements over many decades are allowed to decay.

The overall aim of this issue is to allow practitioners to reflect on some of these aspects of participation. By fostering a deeper understanding of participation we hope to promote improved policies and practices. We believe the articles call for an increased global solidarity among those committed to transforming the power of oppressed peoples via participation.
The issue is split into four sub-themes:

Citizens' juries and similar participatory processes: strengths and weaknesses
Participatory budgeting: lessons from Latin American and the UK
Gender issues and challenges of representation

Community activism from the grassroots

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editorial

THEME ARTICLE ABSTRACTS & ONLINE RESOURCES

THEME SECTION

1. Towards empowered participation: stories and reflections
Tom Wakeford and Jasber Singh (guest editors)

THEME 1: CITIZENS’ JURIES AND SIMILAR PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

2. The people’s vision: UK and Indian reflections on Prajateerpu
Kavitha Kuruganti, Michel Pimbert, and Tom Wakeford

3. Mali’s Farmers’ Jury: an attempt to democratise policy-making on biotechnology
Peter Bryant

4. The UK Nanojury as ‘upstream’ public engagement
Jasber Singh

5. Citizens’ juries in Burnley, UK: from deliberation to intervention
Elham Kashefi and Chris Keene

6. Community x-change: connecting citizens and scientists to policy makers
Nigel Eady, Jasber Singh, Alice Taylor-Gee, and Tom Wakeford

7. Hearing the real voices: exploring the experiences of the European Citizens’ Panel
Peter Bryant, Niall Fitzduff, Gwen Lanigan, and Catherine Purvis

8. Shorts: Four brief analyses of citizens’ juries and similar participatory processes

8a. Ignoring and suppressing grassroots participation in a northern English town
Tom Wakeford, Bano Murtuja, and Peter Bryant

8b. The art of facipulation? The UK government’s nuclear power dialogue
Transcript of UK TV’s Channel 4 News, 19th September, 2007

8c. Genetically Modified Meetings: the Food Standards Agency’s citizens’ jury
Extract from a report from the Policy Ethics and Life Sciences (PEALS) Research
Centre, Newcastle University, UK

8d. If we have time, motivation and resources to participate, does that mean we gain authority and power?
Right 2B Heard Collective and Swingbridge Video

THEME 2: PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING: LESSONS FROM LATIN AMERICA AND THE UK

9. The watering down of participatory budgeting and people power in Porto Alegre, Brazil
Daniel Chavez

10. Participatory budgeting in the UK: a challenge to the system?
Heather Blakey

THEME 3: GENDER ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF REPRESENTATION

11. The Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS: from principle to practice?
International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS

12. Understanding local difference: gender (plus) matters for NGOs
Nazneen Kanji and Su Fei Tan

13. The ivory tower and beyond: Bradford University at the heart of its communities
Jenny Pearce, Martin Pearson, and Sam Cameron

THEME 4: COMMUNITY ACTIVISM FROM THE GRASSROOTS

14. The changing face of community participation: the Liverpool black experience
David Clay

15. Community participation: ‘activists’ or ‘citizens’?
Jackie Haq

16. Girijana Deepika: challenges for a people’s organisation in Andhra Pradesh, India
Madhusudhan

GENERAL SECTION