The participation ladder!
How do you include your collaboration partners in your project?
Here is a brief explanation of the different steps in the participation ladder:
- Manipulative participation
The participation of elected representatives in boards and committees is a empty boast, when in reality they have no power.
- Passive participation
People participate by being informed of what has already been decided or what has already been implemented. This includes unilateral announcements by an administration that doesn't care in the public response. The information that has been released belongs only to external experts.
- Participation through consultation
People participate by being consulted or by answering questions. External representatives define the problems and decide how the information collection will be carried out. In this way checks Such a consultative process does not involve involving the people in the decision-making process itself, and the experts are not obliged to include the people's views.
- Participation through encouragement
People participate by contributing resources, such as labor. As consideration receive money, food or other material incentives. For example, farmers may contribute land and labor, while they are neither involved in the experiments nor in the knowledge processes. This is usually called participation, even though the farmers have no interest in further developing the technology after the incentives cease.
- Functional participation
Local participation is seen by external institutions as important for achieving goals and reducing costs. People can participate by forming groups to meet predetermined objectives in connection with a project. In this participation, a mutual influence and shared decision-making can occur, but usually only after major decisions have already been made by external agents. In the worst case, the local population can still be used in the process simply to serve external goals.
- Participation during collaboration
People participate in joint analyses, develop action plans, and form or strengthen local institutions. Local participation is seen as a right, not just a means to an end. The process involves interdisciplinary methods from different perspectives and uses systematic and structured learning processes. As groups take control of local decisions and determine what resources are available, they have a vested interest in nurturing the resulting assemblages and applications.
- Self-governing
Independent of external institutions, people participate through own initiatives to change systems. They develop contacts with external institutions to get help with resources and technical advice as needed, but they retain control over how the resources are used. Self-governance can spread more quickly if public authorities and non-governmental organizations offer a legitimate support program. It is worth emphasizing that increased self-governance in itself does not automatically lead to a fair distribution of power and welfare, even if the conditions for it are good.