Concept Of Public Participation Research Articles

Effectiveness of County Communication Approaches in Facilitating Public Participation in Kenya’s Devolved Governments

Purpose: The aim of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of county communication frameworks in fostering public participation in Kenya’s 47 devolved governments. Effective communication is both a function and proof of good governance. Thus the significance of county communication facilitating enduring citizen participation in policy making and implementation processes cannot be overstated. The evaluation of county communication approaches was conducted in alignment with overall objectives outlined in the County Government Act of 2012. These objectives include: creating awareness on devolution and governance; promotion of peace and cohesion; advocacy for development, and promotion of the freedom of the media.
 Methodology: The present study adopted a qualitative research approach. The research targeted 8 counties clustered in county economic blocs of North Rift Economic Bloc (NOREB), Lake Region Economic Bloc LREB, Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) , South Eastern Kenya Economic Block (SEKEB), Mt Kenya and Aberdares Economic Bloc, Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani( JKP), Narok and Kajiado Economic Block(NAKAEB) and Nairobi City County. The counties purposely selected to represent each of these economic blocs include: Trans Nzoia, Kisumu, Mandera, Makueni, Meru, Kwale, Narok and Nairobi. This study used both primary and secondary methods to collect data. In-depth interviews were used to collect primary data from 26 participants, specifically, from Council of Governors, Sub-County Administrators, County Assemblies Forum, County Directors of Communication and Community Based Organizations. They were purposively chosen for their role in communicating, facilitating, and monitoring public participation. Secondary data was collected mainly from national dataset, surveys, and reports from ministries, departments, and agencies.
 Findings: The findings show that concept of public participation is deeply rooted in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. County communication frameworks embed strategic communication approaches for policy making and implementation in devolved governments. The finds show that the level of understanding of devolution among Kenyans varies. Those in urban and city counties have a greater appreciation of decentralization while those in rural counties have limited understanding of devolution and its implication. Majority of Kenyans have difficulty distinguishing functions of devolved governments from those assigned to the national government by the CoK 2010. Additionally, county governments are required to promote peace and cohesion among the residents. The findings show that this objective receives less emphasis and is not a priority of counties, with the exception of frontier counties. However, counties promote development in their jurisdiction recognizing that they have a responsibility to stimulate investments that create jobs for unemployed and generally improve living standards of the residents. Finally, county governments have a role to play in ensuring media practice remain free from any interference even though this responsibility lie with the national government. 
 Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Based on the review of the literature and findings of this study, the study recommends that county governments should meaningfully engage citizens in governance by first, empowering them to understand their responsibility and secondly, allowing them to engage meaningfully in issues that affect them. To achieve this, county governments should establish mechanisms that promote civic education, public participation and access to information as provided in the County Government Act 2012.

Public Participation in the Decisional Process in Bucharest

The public participation process represents the foundation for the development of a sustainable democratic society. This research paper focuses on the relation between the citizens and public authority throughout cooperation. The concept of public participation is understood here as the interaction between different kinds of actors, through available communication channels, in order to identify needs, opinions and beliefs with the purpose of adopting and implementing them in the form of public policies and decisions. This research paper highlights a communication rupture between the public administration and the citizens in Bucharest. Given the context provided by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research paper highlights the need to modernize the public administration in order to better communicate with the population. Some of the possible causes for the miscommunication, that appeared repeatedly throughout the survey, were the disappointment of the population with the public authority, lack of civic education or difficult procedures for public participation. Some of the possible solutions mentioned by the respondents are digitalization of the process of public participation, implementation of the proposals that come from the population, better informing the citizens with respect to the projects that are to be implemented in the community and online anonymous surveys. The survey technique used in order to obtain these data was the online survey, a questionnaire applied to the population of Bucharest, from all the 6 sectors of the Capital.

Wpływ protestu społeczności lokalnej na rozstrzygnięcie decyzji o środowiskowych uwarunkowaniach

The paper aims to determine the significance and legal effects of a local community protest expressed as part of public participation in an individual environmental impact assessment. More specifically, it is to determine the impact of such a protest on the decision on environmental conditions, and in particular whether the protest may constitute a basis for refusing to issue such a decision. In the conclusions, the author indicates that the protest expressed as part of the public participation in the proceedings concerning the issuance of a decision on environmental conditions cannot constitute a sufficient basis for a negative decision. Based on the rational planning model, it is also argued that the concept of public participation in environmental proceedings as defined by law is still deeply rooted in the rational model of environmental impact assessments. As a consequence, it determines the actual limits of public participation in these matters.

The concepts and issues of professionalism and public participation in the national education policy decision-making

최근 국가교육정책 분야에서, 엘리티시즘과 비민주성과 같은 전문가주의의 폐해를 극복하기 위한 대안으로 시민참여주의가 급부상하고 있다. 하지만 이와 같이 전문가주의 대 시민참여주의란 이항대립적 관계 설정을 섣불리 하기에 앞서, 본 연구는, 논쟁의 핵심에 있는 전문가주의와 시민참여주의의 개념과 쟁점을 명확히 하는 것을 연구의 목적으로 삼는다. 이를 위해 실재론적 연구방법론(realist methodology)에 기초하여 문헌연구를 수행하였다. 본 연구는 전문가주의를 진화하는 개념으로 분석하였으며 20세기 전문가주의와 21세기 전문가주의 개념을 비교하여 제시하였다. 국가교육정책 분야에서 전문가주의와 관련된 쟁점으로는 교육전문가가 누구인지 불분명하고, 교육전문가가 전문가 구실을 하기 힘듦을 논의하였다. 한편 시민참여주의 개념 논의에서는 시민참여주의의 법적 근거, 학술적 개념, 시민참여의 질, 대표성과 숙의성을 함께 충족시킨 숙의적 공공협의 모형의 예시, 시민참여의 요건을 살펴보았다. 시민참여주의와 관련된 쟁점으로는 시민참여라는 대의에 가려서 시민의 개별적 특성이 간과되고, 시민참여의 목적이 불분명함을 드러내었다. 이러한 분석을 바탕으로 본 연구는 전문가주의와 시민참여주의를 상보적 관계로 보고, 어떻게 국가교육정책 결정 과정에서 전문가주의와 시민참여주의를 함께 충족시킬 수 있을지에 대한 방향과 실재론적 방법론을 제안하였다.In the national education policy decision-making, public participation is becoming a burgeoning alternative to professionalism, which is often criticised for its elitist and undemocratic features. However, it is necessary to clarify the concepts and relevant issues first before hastily establishing the binary relationship between professionalism and public participation. This paper, relying on realist methodology, conducted literature review. It was found that the concept of professionalism kept evolving. More specifically, this study compared the concept of professionalism in the 20th century with that in the 21th century. The two issues related to professionalism were: 1) it was unclear who were educationalists; and 2) It was difficult for educationalists to act as professionals. Concerning the concept of public participation, this study investigated its legal basis, academic conceptualisation, its quality, its prerequisites and the model of deliberative public consultation. The issues of public participation were: 1) the individual characteristics of citizens were obscured by a good cause of the public participation; 2) the aim of public participation was ambiguous. Based on this analysis, this article argued for the complimentary relationship between professionalism and public participation. To achieve this, this research suggested the direction and the realist methodology appropriate to the national education policy decision-making in South Korea.

COMPROMISING FOREST ENVIRONMENT IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA: THE RIGHTS OF PUBLIC TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

Well managed forests that ensure the conservation of resources are not only significant for the communities dependant on forests but also for ecological service for the benefit of wider society. Nevertheless, in recent years the riches of nature particularly forest seems to be abandoned as a result of rapid and mixed development. This paper highlights the importance of the rights of public in Peninsular Malaysia to be involved with forest environmental information in any stages of environmental issues up to decision-making processes where the principle 10 of the Rio Declaration comes into discussion. With growing recognition of the rights of the indigenous peoples to land and forest resources, issues regarding the Orang Asli communities as an important stakeholder in forests are also discussed. Supported by contemporary issues and cases, even though public participation seems to be properly stated in the relevant legal content, regrettably in term of public participation in forest environment, this concept is seemed not favoured by those in authority because it is seen as a factor which may impede progress of the development project. This paper infers that the concept of public participation indeed seeks involvement of those potentially affected by or interested in a decision. Furthermore, it is now emerged as a concept which is considered as vital part of democratic governance to enhance accountability. Thus, as a matter of fact, environmental information is a mere report rather than to be disclosed to public.

Optimizing Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making in Nigeria

The environment is an essential public treasure whose use and management affects the public. The public therefore has a right to be involved in decisions affecting them and the environment(UNEP 2009). The concept of public participation as a legal procedure in policy design and environmental governance is advancing. In most democratic developed countries, public participation has become an established and operative procedural requirements conducted in environmental decision making processes in order to strengthen democratic environmental governance, provide accountability, transparency and inclusive participation in environmental matters.Unfortunately in developing countries, it is not so. This research critically examined the process of public participation in environmental decision making in Nigeria. By utilizing a World Bank approved EIA for one of the projects the organisation sponsored in Nigeria, the research explored the extent of opportunities granted to the public in environmental decision making. It also analysed existing regulatory frameworks to identify key barriers to achieving effective public participation programs. Another accomplishment of this study is the comparison of national policy and regulation on public participation with international best practices, which helped to identify gaps for which recommendations for improvement were provided.The study revealed that public participation in Nigeria is still a developing process with a lot of challenges in terms of economic development to support the growing population and inconsistent regulatory framework. To be able to meet international standards, the scope of the policy and regulation will need to be restructured and revised to cover a comprehensive strategy and inclusive mechanisms. While the research focuses its review on current public participation process in environmental decision making in Nigeria, the findings is feasibly applicable to other developing countries hoping to reshape and improve current tools and practices for improved public participation in environmental decision making processes.

A Framework for Operationalizing the Effect of National Culture on Participatory Policy Analysis

Participatory policy analysis (PPA) aims to involve actors who affect, or are affected by, a decision in the policy-making process. Although the concept of public participation is attractive and promising, the possibility and quality of its application is sensitive to context, notably to cultural factors. Research on how to operationalize and manage this sensitivity while designing and implementing PPA is scant. This article aims to fill this gap by providing an analytic framework for assessing culturally sensitive factors affecting participation (FAPs) using cross-cultural theories. The framework is tested in secondary case studies in four countries with different cultural backgrounds. The results show good correspondence between the quantitative indicators in the framework and the empirical observations in the case studies. This suggests that the framework provides a valuable ex ante diagnostic tool for researchers and practitioners who wish to tailor a participatory approach to a cultural context.

The perception of the public participation approach applied to water management in Jordan

This paper aims to explore the perception of applying public participation practices in Jordan in the water management context. It uses grounded theory methodology to understand how the concept of public participation is perceived by different stakeholders and how it is affecting the currently applied participation practices. The data used in this study were collected through face-to-face interviews with key water experts and specialists working in the water sector in Jordan, including experts working for governmental and non-governmental institutions. The findings of this study showed that there is a distinct difference in the perception of public participation between two groups; the ‘officials’ and ‘non-officials’, which in turn has influenced other aspects of participation, mainly the objectives and preferred type of participation, justification for implementing the participation and the characterization of currently applied participation practices.

Participatory GIS and its application in governance: the example of air quality and the implications for noise pollution

Participatory GIS (geographic information systems) is designed to use community mapping exercises to produce spatial representations of local knowledge. The ideals of Participatory GIS revolve around the concept of public participation in the use of spatial data leading to increased community involvement in policy-setting and decision-making (Weiner et al., Community participation and geographic information systems, in: Craig et al., Community participation and geographic information systems, London: Taylor & Francis, 2002). This paper reports on findings from two case studies, one relating to assessments of air quality and how Participatory GIS has been used in the UK to improve local government policy, and the second on assessments of noise pollution. It concludes by discussing a caveat on the use of Participatory GIS for environmental governance, which is that, ideally, only issues on which participants are likely to have direct experiential knowledge should be targeted.

Evaluating Public-Participation Exercises: A Research Agenda

The concept of public participation is one of growing interest in the UK and elsewhere, with a commensurate growth in mechanisms to enable this. The merits of participation, however, are difficult to ascertain, as there are relatively few cases in which the effectiveness of participation exercises have been studied in a structured (as opposed to highly subjective) manner. This seems to stem largely from uncertainty in the research community as to how to conduct evaluations. In this article, one agenda for conducting evaluation research that might lead to the systematic acquisition of knowledge is presented. This agenda identifies the importance of defining effectiveness and of operationalizing one’s definition (i.e., developing appropriate measurement instruments and processes). The article includes analysis of the nature of past evaluations, discussion of potential difficulties in the enactment of the proposed agenda, and discussion of some potential solutions.

Local planning and public participation: the case of waterfront redevelopment in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

This paper seeks to access the responsiveness of the technicalities of public participation to the social philosophy and cultural peculiarities of the waterfront communities in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The concept of public participation is defined and the main problems of the study area associated with public participation highligted. An examination of the extent of participation encouraged by planners and the opportunities open to the public for urban development is also made. It is concluded that the problem of participation in government is primarily one of structure, process and values of the governmental system itself. It is after all, the form and content of the consultations which the Government has instigated, their definition of issues and not the attitude of the waterfront residents who do not want to participate. While public participation is a desirable ideal, it frequently cannot tackle issues of major importance decided by higher decision authorities in distance decision making centres. It is recommended that the Port Harcourt City Local Government be involved to coordinate ward and district level urban development plans. The paper ends with some speculations concerning theoretical implications for the distributional bargaining theory of conflict resolution in urban development in Nigeria.