EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For the last decade, IDS has been a unique centre for promotion of participation research and innovations from grassroots to institutional level in various parts of the globe. Through the work of the Participation Group, it strives to strengthen the quality of participatory processes in development.
The purpose of the Participation Group's programme for the next three years is to contribute to the reduction of global poverty by shifting power relations in favour of poor people in the South. The programme will pursue this aim by strengthening the capacities of key development actors for reflection, understanding and action. Partners and other actors to be engaged with will include staff and units of governments, donors, private enterprises and civil society actors such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs) and social movements. By exploring and further developing concepts, practices and change-oriented strategies, the programme will facilitate critical analysis of power relations and their impact on participatory processes, and stimulate the use of innovative methods. Particular emphasis will be given to influencing actors and power relations within three broad areas:
· Governance, rights and inclusion
· Development actors and approaches
· Economic agendas and citizens’ voices
The programme’s approach will be collaborative, involving partnerships with and between key actors in the South and North, and will combine action-research and learning methods with thematic workshops, networking, capacity building, communication and dissemination, and postgraduate teaching. The programme will be managed by the Participation Group at IDS, and an Advisory Group of partners (including representatives of the funding organisations) will review and monitor progress as well as make recommendations concerning necessary changes.
Results of activities will be communicated with the network in the South through workshops and through training, publications, readily available in print or electronic form. The expertise will also be available through consultancies of IDS staff or through the global participation network. SDC activities in countries like Pakistan, India, Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal and Bolivia have already maintained direct links with IDS, other SDC focus countries will possibly also benefit from IDS in the next phase.
1. INTRODUCTION
The task of achieving more equitable and inclusive development has become more daunting as a result of economic globalisation and the increasing influence and mobility of private capital. Poverty and inequality are being entrenched, in turn, by ever more powerful structures and interests, and by the actors, relationships and discourses that support these. Despite growing global awareness of rights agendas, participation in development policy and governance is often limited to certain levels and arenas of decision-making, and these levels and arenas are not always where power and resources reside. In short, ‘participation’ is at risk of becoming a hollow victory, where people take part in relatively unimportant decisions while other arenas remain closed to them.
The trend towards privatisation of basic services, the increased power of corporate actors, the influence of trade regimes, and a broad decline in state power in many countries are all reducing the agency of citizens to participate or be represented in decision-making. While decentralisation appears to open the doors to citizen participation, the resources needed to reduce poverty and inequality are often not there at the local level, or are controlled by local elites. The entrenchment of inequalities is also reflected in the growing gap between North and South, in terms of information, agendas and resources. At the same time, opportunities for multilateral solutions appear to be declining. Experiences of migration and displacement, as well as problems of racism, xenophobia and ethnic and religious fundamentalism are negatively affecting the lives and well being of many poor people. The events of and since September 11th are cause for further concern, as militarisation and conflict make the political climate for securing rights and participation more and more difficult.
In these challenging circumstances, realisation of rights for poor people will depend in part upon forging more effective linkages of solidarity among people and organisations positioned at different levels and loci of action. Expectations continue to grow throughout the world that ordinary people must be heard and respected in decision making, both public and private. Citizen groups and social movements are creating new spaces in which to express themselves, and innovative uses of communication technology are breaking barriers of silence. Advocacy and campaign efforts are linking up in new ways, vertically and horizontally, to address the global dimensions of locally experienced problems. Governments and private companies, too, are realising the need to be more responsive and accountable, and are seeking better ways to engage with public concerns. Other important shifts are occurring at the macro-policy level. The problems arising from economic and financial globalisation are now being recognised within mainstream economic circles, as its limits and negative effects become more obvious. There is growing recognition that political and economic institutions, including markets, must be guided and informed by a stronger social and environmental ‘bottom line’, and be responsive to citizen and consumer voice. While the ways and means for achieving these changes are as yet weak, and often less than participatory, the global realities and forces of public opinion compelling their creation grow daily.
The rationale for this proposal lies in supporting and helping strengthen global and local processes and alliances that are responding to the positive opportunities for social and political change.
