List some adjectives you would use to describe a process that is "not participatory."
Draw a representation of the decisionmaking process that exists in your organization. Use whatever method you prefer (symbols, flowchart, diagram, etc.) The drawing should indicate who is involved and at what stage in the process they are involved.
Answers: Circle the letter corresponding to your answer for each question or write in your response to option "h"/"other":
1. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 2. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 3. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 4. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 5. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 6. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 7. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 8. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 9. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 10. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 11. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 12. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 13. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 14. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 15. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 16. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 17. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 18. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 19. a b c d e f g 20. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 21. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 22. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 23. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 24. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 25. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 26. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 27. a b c d e f g 28. a b c d e f g 29. a b c d e f g 30. a b c d e f g 31. a b c d e f g 32. a b c d e f g 33. a b c d e f g 34. a b c d e f g 35. a b c d e f g 36. a b c d e f g 37. a b c d e f g 38. a b c d e f g 39. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 40. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 41. a b c d e f g 42. a b c d e f g 43. a b c d e f g 44. a b c d e f g 45. a b c d e f g 46. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 47. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 48. a b c d e f g 49. a b c d e f g h: _______________________ 50. a b c d e f g
Scoring Instructions:
a:_____ b:_____ c:_____ d:_____ e:_____ f:_____ g:_____
Multiply the total for each letter using the following formulas and enter the new value:
a x 1 = _____ b x 2 = _____ c x 3 = _____ d x 4 = _____ e x 5 = _____ f x 0 = _____
Add the values: Total _____ This is your final score.
Enter your final score on the participation scale.
Indicate below what percentage of the responsibility for public participation you think belongs to authorities, and what percentage to citizens (total should equal 100%).
| Benefits of Public Participation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Benefits for NGOs/Citizens | Benefits for Business/Industry | Benefits for Government |
|
- provides citizens with an opportunity to influence and impact the environmental decisionmaking process; - enables citizens to gain better understanding and knowledge about the environmental risks and impacts to which they, their families, and their communities are exposed; - increases citizen awareness of how decisionmaking processes work: who makes decisions, on what basis (helps citizens to participate in the future, and helps the development of representational democracy); - fosters greater sense of community awareness, social cohesion, social responsibility; - empowers citizens and helps them to feel they can have a positive effect and influence on concrete conditions in their country/community; - ensures local relevance of decisions and policies and that local knowledge and experience is taken into account in project design and implementation. |
- increases knowledge and awareness of impacts of business operations on the environment and surrounding community; - uncovers inefficiencies in production methods, raw material use, or energy consumption that can actually reduce operating costs and eliminate the need to install expensive pollution control equipment; - increases understanding of consumers concerns and how to market products more effectively; - increases access to governmental decisionmaking that affects business directly, through legal or other avenues; - reduces potential for conflicts or legal action with public or government by understanding issues and obligations from their point of view; - reduces likelihood of future delays or expenses by incorporating local issues and concerns early in the project planning process; - improves project bankability by illustrating to funding and financial institutions that participation procedures and guidelines have been followed; - generates creative and locally appropriate solutions; - builds future good relations and trust with community leaders, consumers, the general public, NGOs and the media. |
- creates more informed government decisionmaking by incorporating the diverse opinions, values, and ideas and gaining the direct, immediate knowledge of environmental conditions from community members; - improves citizens awareness of issues and increased public understanding of projects and issues involved in decisionmaking, precondition for functioning democratic system and public satisfaction and trust in government institutions; - supplements scarce government monitoring, inspection, and enforcement resources, thus saving time and money, when citizens act as the government's "eyes" and "ears" identifying and taking actions against environmental threats or violations of applicable laws; - strengthens the position of the Ministry of Environment in relation to other government interests and ministries by public reinforcement of MoE's views and ensure government does not ignore environmental concerns; - defuses conflict or opposition to particular government actions and builds broad-based consensus for environmental programs; - saves valuable resources of both time and money, while requiring more public involvement early in the process may delay initially planning and incur additional costs, it prevents unanticipated changes or alterations in the future when final decisions are made; - generates creative and locally appropriate solutions; - builds future good relations and trust with community leaders, consumers, the general public, NGOs and the media. |
__ I agree __ I disagree
Why? _________________________________________________________________
Participation requires too much time, extends the decisionmaking process with little or no benefit.
__ I agree __ I disagree
Why? _________________________________________________________________
Participation consumes staff salaries and other limited resources which could be better spent and more productive elsewhere.
__ I agree __ I disagree
Why? _________________________________________________________________
Participation is unreal action. The involvement of the public is a difficult task to plan and produces no concrete results. It makes people feel good, but it doesn't put food on the table or pay the rent.
__ I agree __ I disagree
Why? _________________________________________________________________
Participation creates expectations among the public that are not possible to implement. Ultimately this only makes more problems since people become more frustrated.
__ I agree __ I disagree
Why? _________________________________________________________________
Decisionmaking should be based on concrete and factual information collected by educated and informed experts. Participation is irrational and is based on consensus, opinions and personal problems or priorities, not scientific examination.
__ I agree __ I disagree
Why? _________________________________________________________________
Participation is an elitist concept, an idea only for the wealthy, "well connected" or powerful to pursue. It is not possible for the average citizen.
__ I agree __ I disagree
Why? _________________________________________________________________
| METHOD | LEVEL OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Information | Citizens Feedback | Consultations | Joint Planning | Citizen Control | |
| Example: Public Meetings | X | ||||
Nonformal methods of public participation are nonlegal (not illegal!) forms.
For example: