Pepol Fdc Catalunya September 2008

Grundtvig, People and politics Fundació Desenvolupament Comunitari, Catalunya. Local Group

Kunbabony, the 27th of September

PREAMBULE: We wanted to know everything about participation without avoiding self-criticism

How have you done it?

BACKGROUND: We have studied 5 projects*, introduced by the local group: 5

2 3 1

•

4

• • • •

Nou Barris (BCN): civil management of public equipment V.: Neighbourhood conflict S.C.: Youth issue Girona: territory sustainable development Catalunya: water supply management consultation

*The study cases are introduced and explained in the pepol web page (link))

OBJECTIVE of the group: to put the focus on the methods and techniques… which (might) have enabled 1. a real participation (of everybody) 2. and a good articulation between people and politics, 3. and led through them to a real TRANSFORMATION of the reality, in and around the community.

In this framework, we have come to the conclusion that:

-The method is a process to bring the expected result. It implies the use of a strategy (How will we get to the result?) -The technique is about the “trick” which will enable the change. It implies the use of a tactic. - The right use of the technique must help to implement the strategy, in order to produce the changes expected.

We have then followed these Guidelines: -To identify a grid of criteria to analyse the Methods and Techniques. -To draw from the projects the methods and techniques used. -To find the tactic/strategy behind them, in order not to loose the essence of the exercise. -To order the methods and techniques by “families”. -Then we have analyzed more in details two of them -We have pointed out a few results -And a few problems -And we have come to some recommendations, trying to take into account what the result expected from these methods and techniques was.

Methods to induce the transformation: Mediation

Territory School

Strategy: redistributing roles, according to potentialities

Strategy: Training to empower

Mixt grup of negociation

Strategy: redistributing roles, according to established profiles

Citizen Council

Strategy:Getting to the corners

The example of the “Citizen Council”

Appropriate techniques to make the method successful, that is: -

to enable true participation of people, through self expression and creativity: interviews; bordergame, “hidden agenda” To enable a real collective participation (sharing): dialog café; DAFO/SWOT; cineforum..)

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to try to get to the whole territory (Consultation)

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to try to get to the right actors to operate the right changes (sociogramme) To enable the sustainable implementation of the change through the participation of the “politicians”: Agreement meetings; Negociation group... To enable the participation in the implementation/execution of the decision and the followup: Plan of Action, Follw Up Commission; “Promotor” Group...) To create complicity, a reliance atmosphere, i.e.to connect: meals, appropriate infrastructure, “potatoes”, “stones”

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List of techniques (and tactics) • • • • • • • • • • •

Interviews (to enable self-expression and creativity) Sociogrammes (to identify and display roles) Café dialog (to enable equal participation) Agreement meetings (solid basis to re-build relations) Hidden Agenda (to express the hidden thoughts) Bordergame (to help expressivity and creativity to feel comfortable) ITT+Video (to canalise the emotions and creativity) Training Tenders (to answer the needs of people) Participatory Management (to shift to civil management of public space) Horizontal Management Organ (to change the management mentality) F-Up mechanisms (Plan of Actions, F.Up Comm., Promotor Group) (common vision and control of the next steps, to avoid to forget about them) The example of the “bordergame”

Problems (1): •

It is difficult that the “normal people” participate

•

Where is the initiative coming from and who run it ?

2. The “scientific” knowledge is important to get forward: how to combine this knowledge and the divulgation of this knowledge in the short time of the process. 3. Lobby and Pressure groups dominate (Projects of individuals vs. Projects of representatives; Participation vs. Co-management). 4. Difficult to facilitate all the conditions for a good participation ( translation (language and discourses)), infrastructure (kidgarden), resources (money, equipment)

Problems (2): •

• •

To match different calendars and timing of the different actors (government, parliament, NGOs, people) is not always possible (time not always available) The politicians often “participate” only by electoral interest To be too exigent with participation process can lead to frustration: we do as much as we can (the ideal participation is utopian).

What is a good tactic towards the politicians ?

Recommendations -Be careful with who initiates the project and facilitate the proces ( it is good to use a third party to “mediate” in the process). -Be aware of the limits (small is beautiful! The smaller, the easier, the bigger, the more complex!) and make it as participatory as possible (Sometimes the actors involved are not the whole population, but the right ones) -Choose the right tactic and strategy towards a clear objective (Importance of creativity, self-expression and innovation) and decide how the methods and techniques are to be used). -Work towards a culture of the participation and not only for participatory projects

As a conclusion…

Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer, it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking (Eduardo Galeano)

P9210007.mov

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