Cultivating participatory policy processes for genetic resources policy: lessons from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) project

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to draw lessons and document experiences from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) project, a project which has been underway in six countries and two sub-regions during the last 5 years. Its focus has been to experiment an approach to participatory policy processes, coined by the project, called the multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary and multi-sector or in short the 3M. This approach, which was demand-driven due to the nature of the policy problems being examined, aims to create a platform to address competing interests inherent in genetic resources issues from multiple perspectives. It is meant to enable different stakeholders to balance issues they diverge and/or converge upon in genetic resources management, thereby harmonizing trade-offs, objectives and strategies. Experiences from the project in applying the 3M in Egypt, Nepal, Vietnam Peru and Zambia highlight several lessons in participatory policy processes. The experiences show that the success or otherwise of participatory policy making processes is dependent on various factors that have to do with stakeholder capacities, process orientation, shared understanding versus vested interests and institutional functions. They highlight that the most effective approach to stakeholder engagement in policy processes is to construct them around an actively engaged ‘process leader’ that possesses, or has the potential to champion the process by mobilising the required cognitive knowledge and institutional engagement. They further suggest that since genetic resources policy issues are cross-cutting, they will demand a more holistic approach with a clear identification of impact pathways through which policy changes can be expected to influence the outcome variables. Since policy making processes are perpetual, the question of sustaining project ideas and recommendations beyond the life of a project has to be part of the planning exercise in any participatory genetic resources policy research and formulation.