Participatory prospective analysis : exploring and anticipating challenges with stakeholders

Abstract

This book presents the Participatory Prospective Analysis method, an applied foresighting approach developed by CIRAD and CAPSA for strengthening the capacity of stakeholders to become more active in making decisions related to their future. It is a tool designed to explore and anticipate changes with the participation of experts, including stakeholders, to provide rapid results and to offer interaction between participants. It fits to situations where multiple stakeholders interact within complex systems and is particularly appropriate for exploring policy options at local or sectorial levels such as for local regional development or commodity-based development. This approach combines participatory learning as a capacity-building tool with the sharing of information in order to level the playing field among stakeholders through the reduction of information asymmetry. The illustrative case study about the prospects of secondary crop research and development in Asia and the Pacific shows that the information stakeholders individually possess can be shared and organized to produce foreknowledge and can help them to better understand their environment and be better prepared to act. (Resume d'auteur)