Participatory approach

Participatory approach

Participatory approach refers to the type of practice in which every individual who has a stake has a voice, either by presentation or in person (Wrigley, 2006). Employees of an organization who run it, community officials, and members of the host population, people from all institutions and interested parties, and citizens need to be invited at the table. Every individual’s participation is paramount and needs to be respected in respect to this approach as the process calls for inclusiveness.

Participatory approach does not tolerate dominance by certain individuals or a single point of view. This is the ideal meaning behind the participatory approach of development. However, the reality of it is often different. Some individuals of the target population might not want to participate citing time limit as constrain or that they do not have the required professionalism. On the other hand, particular groups or individuals might feel left out or neglected if they are not invited at the table. Similarly, some individuals feel that participatory process is a mere implementation of already discussed ideas. Being an implementation process, the target population feels that they are only called to be rubber stamps of developed ideas. Furthermore, people in society feel that some individuals’ opinions are given more weight than others. In this process of participatory approach, problems often arise as being less involving. A true sense of participatory approach is one which all individuals’ opinion is considered. This implies that the participatory approach goes beyond the opinion of an individual, but rather makes every individual an important contributor of the process. This should not be misused to imply that opinions cannot be probed. Participation implies that thoughts are respected and probed at the same time to give clarity to every individual.

Types and theories of participatory approach

There are several theories that explain participatory development, and they include the following: passive participation, participation by consultation, empowerment participation and collaboration participation.

Passive participation

This is a type of participation development approach in which primary stakeholders in the society play their participation role by being informed of the process or what is being developed. The opinion and feedback of the people is minimal, and their involvement is usually through information contribution.

Consultation participation

This refers to an extractive participation process in which stakeholders give feedback to information sought by experts or outsiders of the process. The process is always involving since opinions from the society can be received anytime, in addition to several consultative meetings. One problem of this type of participation is that it gives the power of decision making in the minds of professionals and external experts. The experts make decisions and are not obliged to incorporate the inputs of the stakeholders.

Collaboration participation

In this process, the objectives of the development project are often preset and therefore, invite groups involving the primary stakeholders to discuss and analyze those objectives. A significant feature of this type of participation development is that no major alterations are made on the project, since the accomplishments are already determined. Participation however, is required in the decision making on how to achieve the objectives. This participation usually involves all the stakeholders through capacity building and communication. The success of the process is based on collaboration of all the stakeholders including outside experts and facilitators.

Empowerment participation

This is where stakeholders are willing and capable to initiate and analyze the whole process. The decision making is often a joint venture or collaborative. This implies that outsiders and stakeholders have an equal say in the decision making process. Some of the features of this type of participatory development are the exchange of knowledge and critical analysis of issues.

Contradictions and tensions in the participatory approach

Most scholars note that participatory approaches in social projects are often led by outside professional and experts. These experts measure performance against pre-determined indicators using tools and procedures that are designed without the input and participation of stakeholders like the project intended beneficiaries. This is more pronounced in the evaluation process than in the implementation of these societal projects since evaluation are often audited by external consultants, as a form of participatory control. While ideological case of participatory approach to social change is globally acknowledged, participatory development is often criticized. Crucially, taking participatory development does not necessarily imply that all stakeholders participate in the social development projects. There are often issues and challenges involving who is to be left out and who is to be involved in the process. Furthermore, the representatives of the recommendations and findings with regard to social participatory approach have often been criticized. It is accepted and recognized that social change is a societal process that require the use of participatory approach. But the term participatory approach is often misunderstood. The blanket use of participatory approach in social development process has for long masked the heterogeneity depiction in practice, and shows the inadequacy of transparency in methods and tools of participatory approach such as evaluation and monitoring. Furthermore operationalizing participatory approaches in social projects has a potential for problems. Local political and socio-economic situations provide challenges for a participatory approach since it increases the vulnerability of marginalized groups.

Participatory tools

There are several participatory tools that encompass participatory approach, yet the range of these tools cannot be determined. Some of these tools include democratic process, mutual respect, co-ownership, shared learning and empowerment. These tools can be very beneficial to social change in society if applied well.

Beneficiary feedback tools

They provide a feedback system that is beneficial through a collection of opinions and views of all stakeholders in society on the impact and quality of the development projects (GSDRC, 2010)). A good case study is that of the donors and NGOs. The donors have applied these tools of mutual feedback system that have increased sustainability in social development and empowerment. The tools facilitate the realization of weaknesses and strengthen in the participatory approach. Feedback ensures that consensus is built on how the project is implemented for the benefit of intended beneficiaries. The donors insist on creativity and spontaneity of participatory approaches in social development projects, and the results have been amazing. These have been the source of empowerment to many people in society especially in developing countries. In addition, participatory tools such as shared learning and mutual participation facilitate analysis and information sharing among all stakeholders (Price & Pokharel, 2005).

While this tool is vital in providing sustainability in social change and empower beneficiaries, not all beneficiary views might be provided due to lack of rigorous monitoring and evaluation. The donors have tried to eliminate this challenge through the use of advanced information and technology in the feedback system and techniques, but these innovations do not provide magic solutions to improving participation. Accountability and effectiveness are also another problem to this tool of social participation. For instance quantified summaries of agricultural projects are hard to ascertain, yet they provide real performance indicators that are beneficiary focused.

Most significant tool technique

This tool of participatory approach involves collecting of change indicators from society, and choosing the best. Through discussion, the stakeholders are able to determine the impact of participation on the social projects. This implies that people participation is ideal for improvement of society (Davies, 2005).

Advantages of participation

A participatory approach helps the society to avoid pitfalls in development that are caused by ignorance by the target population. This is because participation brings on board a range of people with varied ideas and perspective. For instance, inclusion of a Christian for a project that the target population is mainly Christians, the committee will know that hosting meetings on Sunday or Christian holidays, will not work. Community members who have been there for long will help in identify the failures of the past therefore, the group will not repeat the same mistakes. Similarly, the process ensures that there is credibility in development for social change. This is because people will have a sense of belonging to a project they participated in implementing. Its success is guaranteed. Members will feel that they are the originators of the process since the process involved people with the same opinion as that of all segments of the community. A good example that I experienced in business: Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United defender, owns a restaurant in Manchester. By talking to management, he realized that some common drinks like juice and coke were not being sold at required standards. He immediately ordered the addition of sweeter drinks and the sales increased. He knew that people would love sweeter drinks through his experience.

Participatory approach brings strong ties among members of society and builds trust. Low-income earning people relate with business leaders so that the intervention and development of society is ensured. This goes further to create strong long term ties that break barriers thus enhancing social change. Through participation, community builds trust with organizations and other individuals which act as a foundation pillar for future development of society and action. In addition, people are able to learn skills through participation since it involves common people, experts and business leaders. In the process data is analyzed, strategies set for project implementation which helps every individual to be a useful resource in community development. Subsequently, this process ensures respect for everyone in society, standards that other organizations will follow. This is realizable since participatory approach to social chance encompasses inclusiveness, collaboration and empowerment that form the basis of community development.

In logic, participatory approach is effective and efficient in development. The fact that it takes the perspectives and views of everybody in the community shows how reasonable it is in social change. By valuing the idea, experience, opinion and intelligence of each member of the community, participatory approach creates development.

Criticism and disadvantages

Participatory approach to social development comes with its challenges (Gregory, 2000). Firstly, community members might not agree with consultants on the issues of development. This brings a challenge in implementing the project. This may arise due to the fact that members of society might not acknowledge the experience of the experts, or they do not have access to required knowledge to be able to understand the importance of the project. This implies that the project may take longer, and the opportunity missed. Decision making becomes long and difficulty since it has to consider the views of every individual member. As I have experienced, it is quite challenging for experts to consider the opinions of members of the target population during the participatory process. The outcome is not acceptance of any idea, but rather probing and getting the inner meaning and viability to the development being undertaken. The professionals often think they have much to offer than the members of the target community, yet is these members who are on the ground. This means that the process is not participatory rendering the process difficult to implement.

Participation process to development can be an impediment in itself. Community members and experts of organizations may require lots of education since they may lack the required technical know-how and experience. Subsequently, they may need resources that might otherwise be used on social change to understand how organizations run participation. Members may require new skills for them to participate fully in the participatory process. On the other hand, the implementing organization has to learn on the culture of the host community, history and political situations. This will allow it to remedy the problems facing the community at the same time; accommodate locals during the participation process. Education of both the community and experts is both time consuming and expensive therefore, hampering social development.

The process may end up being predominantly led by one person if not well checked. Participatory process can be difficulty if an individual believes that he is the only one who understands the target population. Handling such a situation is tough and needs tactics. For example: in Ohio state, parents proposed to start an elective program on sex education in a local high school. The entire process was severely opposed by an individual whose religious beliefs contradicted with the idea, and he was convinced that the process was work of Satan. This prompted the parents to involve him in the process so that his objections could be defused, and a compromised program favorable for all could be achieved. Unknown to them was that the determination of the man was irreversible, and he was not willing to compromise his religious beliefs for fairness and civility. This made it hard for the process to continue. Eventually, the group collapsed, and the curriculum was implemented without participation.

Another tension in participatory approach is that it is hard to get the right individuals. Some individuals who might be crucial to social change may refuse to participate (Jacobs, 2010). There might be factions in the target population, historical failures of similar projects and ignorance within the community leading to lack of trust. Communication and inclusiveness can be problematic in this case. Overcoming such barriers could be difficult. Other individuals may refuse to know that participatory process takes commitment and patience, something they are not ready to bear. Participation requires that people commit to the process, remaining civil and discussing issues that might be affecting some individuals yet others are not ready to compromise (Estrella, 2000). Inadequacy of important people may overshadow the credibility of the participation process thereby affecting social change negatively.

Radical opponents of participatory approach to social change criticize the process for treating all communities the same. While it is important that we include all gender, especially female in development projects, not all projects require inclusiveness. The success of gender inclusive development projects is rare, raising questions on viability of participatory approach to social development. This is due to the participatory development projects addressing the immediate needs of women without looking into the underlying problems of gender inequality and subordination. In addition, participatory approach to social development has failed to address critical aspects of inequality in society such as domestic violence, class, caste and female restrictions. Similarly, development organizations only interact with the knowledgeable members of target population as a way of representation. By so doing participatory approach raise inequalities thus hampering social change efforts rather than facilitating development.

In conclusion, tensions are evident in the participatory approach that present challenges to social change, overcoming these barriers can tremendously increase social development. Empowering the community as a whole rather than imposing social ideas on communities, has a potential to give substance to social development. In addition, community needs, time pressure, experience and skills of participatory participants, nature of projects, organization efficiency and inclusiveness can dictate the future of a society by shaping the participatory approach.

References

Estrella, M. (2000). Learning from Change: Issues and Experiences in Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. International Development Research Centre, Ottawa.

Davies, R. (2005). The ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique: A Guide to its Use. MandE, London. 34-56.

Gregory, A. (2000). Problematizing Participation: A Critical Review of Approaches to Participation in Evaluation Theory. Evaluation Review, 6 (2),179-199.

GSDRC, (2010). Participatory M&E and Beneficiary Feedback’, Helpdesk Research Report. Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, Birmingham.

Jacobs, A. (2010). Creating the Missing Feedback Loop. IDS Bulletin, 41 (6), 56-64.

Price, N., & Pokharel, D. (2005). Using Key Informant Monitoring in Safe Motherhood Programming in Nepal. Development in Practice, 15 (2), 151-164.

Wrigley, R. (2006). Learning from Capacity Building Practice: Adapting the ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Approach to Evaluate Capacity Building. International NGO Training and Research Centre, 2 (3) 12-78.