Framework For Public Participation Research Articles

A conceptual framework for public participation: Suggestions for a better fit

A conceptual framework for public participation: Suggestions for a better fit

Increasing urban flood resilience through public participation: A case study of Tuti Island in Khartoum, Sudan

AbstractOver the past 30 years, Sudan has experienced several severe floods which have caused loss of life and significant damage to property. The frequency and intensity of floods in Sudan are predicted to increase as a result of climate change. The main objective of this research was to assist policymakers in establishing a mechanism for public participation in Sudan to enable communities to be engaged in improving flood risk management. This paper focuses on Tuti Island, which is located near the confluence of the Blue and White Niles in Khartoum which is severely affected by flooding. The research was based on surveys and interviews with both officials and the public to examine the degree of public participation in mitigating flood risks. The research concluded that Sudan has no policy or official way of engaging the public in disaster risk reduction; however, the traditional method of social mobilization called Nafeer (building together) can play a significant role in increasing communities' flood resilience. Establishing a clear framework for public participation, such as Nafeer, for the various stages of the flood management cycle that coordinates with decision‐makers can help increase the resilience of urban areas in low‐income countries like Sudan.

Corporate green technology innovation under external pressure: a public and media perspective

The presence of external environmental constraints has the potential to impact corporate decision-making behavior regarding production and spur innovative activities. This study focuses on a sample of Chinese A-share-listed corporations to investigate the influence of public environmental concerns (PEC) on corporate green technology innovation (GTI) within the framework of public participation in environmental governance. Moreover, this study explores the synergistic effects of media concerns and PEC. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) PEC is a driving force for corporate GTI. Endogeneity and robustness tests support this finding. (2) Government environmental regulation and corporate environmental responsibility are critical mediating variables. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that PEC significantly impacts the GTI of state-owned corporations, high-tech corporations, and corporations that have obtained ISO 14001 certification. (4) Media concerns enhance GTI and exhibit a strong synergistic effect with PEC. Positive media news strengthens the “incentive effect” of PEC, while negative news plays a “pushing role.” This study provides theoretical and empirical support for constructing an environmental governance mechanism for the public, media, corporations, and government.

Including Community Partners in the Development and Adaptation of Intervention Strategies to Prevent Initiation or Escalation of Opioid Misuse.

Current literature lacks clear examples of how to engage with communities in the development of opioid misuse interventions for diverse populations and across various settings. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative (HEAL) Prevention Cooperative (HPC) research projects work collaboratively with communities to develop and adapt their opioid misuse interventions to increase both feasibility and sustainability. Ten HPC projects were selected to receive NIH funding and are required to have partnerships with communities where their intervention is being conducted. This paper applies the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-adapted Public Participation Framework to examine the levels of community engagement used by each of these 10 HPC projects (Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium Community Engagement Key Function Committee Task Force on the Principles of Community Engagement, 2015). Using this framework, this paper illustrates the range of community engagement approaches and levels that the HPC projects rely on to develop, adapt, and adopt opioid prevention interventions across diverse populations and settings. This paper also lays a foundation for future examinations of the role of community engagement in intervention implementation and effectiveness and the level of community engagement that is necessary to improve intervention effectiveness.

An investigation into the effectiveness of public participation mechanisms on service delivery within the Newcastle local municipality

A little over two years ago, from the 9th to the 18th of July 2021, South Africa experienced one of the worst incidents of civil unrest since the beginning of its democratic dispensation. Although the main catalyst for this unrest was not directly issues of service delivery or public participation, many observers, experts or not could not help but see the connection to issues of poverty, unemployment and overall lack of service delivery. Public participation has long been established as a vital tool in the hands of the government for efficient service delivery & development. The Newcastle Local Municipality (NLM) as an institution in South Africa, is governed by numerous public participation legislation which essentially states it must always consult & involve all its citizens on all issues that affect the community at large. Despite its adherence to these stipulations, this brief study, through a qualitative inquiry making use of an interview schedule, finds that NLM practices a type of participation strategy known as “Degrees of tokenism” where the result is the appeasement and placation of the masses as opposed to true participation that gives the masses real power. The results indicated that the officials entrusted with ensuring the implementation of the public participation mandate faced numerous challenges that rendered their stellar efforts inefficient. Issues such as a lack of understanding of the fundamental importance of good governance and public participation led to a shortage of resources and increased apathy toward municipal affairs. In investigating the nature of the public participation framework in NLM the researcher aimed at providing more insight into the complex issues at play responsible for the largely concerning state of local government in South Africa, thus possibly providing solutions in the process.

International Water Law in the Mekong River Basin: A Role for Amicus Curiae?

The current framework for public participation under the 1995 Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin has no clear statement or mechanism for access to justice. Without access to justice, the public is limited in its ability within the context of the agreement to enforce and verify obligations as well as prevent or remedy adverse impacts related to the development and management of the Mekong River Basin. In the event the parties to the agreement submit differences and disputes to an international court or tribunal, the procedure of amicus curiae can be used to facilitate access to justice. This article explores the background of access to justice in the context of the agreement and how the procedure of amicus curiae may function to facilitate access to justice.

The influence of psychological cognition and policy environment on the basin residents' behavior of ecological compensation under the background of carbon neutrality: A case study in upper Yellow River basin, China

Public participation in river basin ecological compensation is one of the effective means to adjust the multi stakeholder relationship and promote low-carbon development. This paper takes the upper Yellow River basin section as the research area, adds ecological compensation policy variables to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). An integrated theoretical framework is established from the two levels of personal psychological cognition and policy environment, which can comprehensively consider multiple factors that affect individual behavior. This paper uses the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to empirically analyze the impact of psychological factors and river basin ecological compensation policy on the public's willingness and behavior to participate in river basin ecological compensation. The results showed that the three psychological cognitive factors of behavior attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control had a significant impact on the public's willingness to participate in ecological compensation. The ecological compensation policy also has a significant impact on the willingness and behavior of the public to participate in ecological compensation. The impact coefficient of ecological compensation policy on the participation willingness is 0.085, and the impact coefficient on the participation behavior is 0.551. The existing ecological compensation policies in carbon neutral contexts have a stronger effect on the public participation behavior, but a weaker impact on the public's willingness to participate. The existing policies in carbon neutral contexts play a small role in mobilizing the public's enthusiasm from the psychological cognitive level, but the willingness to participate has a significant direct impact on the participation behavior. The research conclusions of this paper can help to broaden the theoretical framework of public participation and provide new ideas and methods for improving the ecological compensation mechanism of the river basin.

Jointly Creating Sustainable Rural Communities through Participatory Planning: A Case Study of Fengqing County, China

Rural communities have long been overlooked since globalization and urbanization struck traditional rural values. Building a sustainable rural community has become a contested issue in academia, especially after implementing the Rural Revival Strategy. This research attempted to establish a participatory planning approach, which considers rural planners as the external impetus and local villagers as an internal driving force, to promote the sustainability of rural communities. Carrying on the theoretical framework of public participation, the researchers carried out a pilot practice in Hongtang Village, Yunan Province, China, where planners tried to reestablish the social relationship in a village by designing and building a rural yard. We do not solely finish the design, but also advocate, communicate, and work with villagers to activate the vitality of the village. The research argues that the focus of rural planning and construction in China is to develop a participatory planning approach, which is human-oriented and place-based. Planners, acting as an external impetus, advocate public participation in the whole planning process, including mapping, designing, constructing, and managing. We try to empower villagers themselves rather than impose. During this participatory planning process, villagers improve the quality of their settlements through continuous dialogue and cooperation, and the social relationships among them become enhanced. Thus, rural communities are restructuring in both environmental and social dimensions to promote rural sustainability. Additionally, participatory planning in rural areas is constantly correcting itself to be more local, scientific, and rational and become a more powerful protector and promoter of public interests in this process.

A Systematic Literature Review on Smart City Project Initiatives for Rural Community Participation

Most democratic governments have prioritizedoffering people more significant input in government decision-making and promoting public participation in policy creation. People and governments may now effectively integrate formerly unsurmountable gaps in their relationships thanks to advances in digital and information technologies. "Smart City" technologies are not a new term in today's urbanizationdevelopment field; however, this "Smart City" technologies term is likely unfamiliar with the rural area, as the rural area is sometimes assumed to perform poorly in the development of innovative city initiatives, which are mostly being pioneered by the local government authority with a focus on a city or urban region. Citizens can now participate in decision-making and policy-making due to the smart city project initiative, which cannot be disregarded entirely; unfortunately, rural population participation remains limited. This conceptual research aims to examine smart city project aspirations for the rural community public participation framework. The author comprehends the importance of including significant public participation in all parts of the planning process. The methodology behind this researchis based on a detailed study of the scholarly literature that has already been done. The conclusions of the research were derived from a number of different reading materials, such as books, journals, and other sources on smart city programsfor public participation in rural areas.

Public participation in infrastructure projects: an integrative review and prospects for the future research

PurposeIn the past few decades, traditional project management theories mainly focused on quality, cost and schedule. However, with larger scale and wider influence of infrastructure projects, especially in megaprojects, social problems have gradually become pressing issues in the field of project governance. As the public is the main body of society, public participation has attracted the attention from both the academic field and industry field. Despite people are gradually realizing the significance of public participation, a deeper and more systematic understanding is still needed to be developed in this field. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a systematic literature review on public participation in infrastructure projects. Based on existing literatures, this paper draws a knowledge map and develops a research framework in this field. Also, this paper tries to provide some theoretical and practical directions for the future.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 142 papers from Web of Science Core collection were selected to be used in this systematic review. Quantitative analysis of this paper is concentrated on the knowledge map with bibliometric tools. Qualitative analysis is concentrated on identifying the research framework.FindingsThis paper reviewed existing literatures and the results are as below. Firstly, the results show a knowledge map containing knowledge domains, knowledge frontiers and knowledge evolution of research fields in public participation. Secondly, the results indicate a research framework in this field, including situational dimension, implementation dimension, individual dimension and influence dimension. Moreover, each dimension has several research topics, respectively. Finally, according to the results, the paper proposes practical suggestions for stakeholders and research directions for further study.Originality/valueIt is the first paper to draw a holistic knowledge map and build up a multilevel framework for public participation in the field of infrastructure projects. This paper bridges the gap in both quantitative and qualitative identification of existing literatures in this field. Besides, this paper proposes some practical suggestions and research directions for further study and development of public participation.

Public Participation in Budget Making Processes in County Governments in Kenya

This paper discusses the legal and administrative framework for public participation in budget making process in County Governments in Kenya. It seeks to address three research questions: First, what is the conceptual, legal and administrative framework for public participation in budget making in Kenya county governments? Second, is the existing framework for public participation in budget making effective? Third, what lessons can Kenya learn from Brazil and South Africa?

Public Participation in the Policy Making Process: An Evaluation of Makueni County, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to evaluate public participation in the policy making process in Makueni County. This was so because, despite the Makueni County Government generally accepted framework for public participation, there is limited information on how that framework has impacted or been used in the policy making process. Specifically, the study sought to assess the extent of awareness by the residents of Makueni of their democratic right and opportunities to participate in the policy making process; analyzed the levels of citizens involvement in policy making processes in Makueni County; established the perception towards public participation in policy making process by residents and management in Makueni County; and determined the barriers to public participation in policy making process by residents and management in Makueni County. The study was anchored on Stakeholder Theory, Arnstein’s Ladder and the Multi Streams Model. The study was hinged on descriptive survey research design and targeted the 884,527 residents of Makueni and the 217 County Public service Departmental staff in Makueni County. Stratified sampling was used to delineate 117 staff in terms of their positions, whether management or operations excluding the subordinate staff. Simple random sampling was used to get 396 residents. Focus Group Discussions and questionnaires were the primary data collection instruments. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of percentages and frequencies. Linear regression model analysis was also used to analyze data. The results established that the residents were unaware of their democratic right and opportunities for participation in policy making process in Makueni County. There were also low levels of citizens’ involvement in policy making processes in Makueni County. Further, perception about public participation by residents was both negative for those who felt let down by the county management and positive for those who mainly felt hopeful that despite those challenges, things improve for the better in terms of public participation in policy making process in Makueni County. Additionally, financial, physical resource, human resource and technological barriers were identified as having considerable negative impact on citizen participation in policy making process. The study thus recommends that Makueni County management should embark on renewed promotional strategies to create awareness among citizens of their democratic right and opportunities for participation in policy making process in Makueni County. Further, the citizens themselves should be proactive and employ necessary mechanisms of obtaining information from the county government and demand participation. The Makueni County management should on the other hand, formulate a framework that stipulates the measures to be applied towards fully involving the citizens. The Makueni County management should also be more transparent and accountable in order to help build a positive perception about public participation amongst the residents. Moreover, the Makueni County management should engage in robust resource mobilization of finances, physical, human and technological resources that advance public participation in policy making process. On a policy level, the County Assembly should amend existing public participation legislation to make it more responsive to the needs of citizens. The executive should on their part robustly implement public participation processes going forward.

Stakeholder participation in Lopburi Old Town conservation master plan

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the meaningful public participation in activities relating to the master plan development and, at the same time, propose some recommendations for improvement.Design/methodology/approachThe study was carried out with in-depth interviews of 35 key-informants selected from various stakeholder groups involving in public participation activities. The evaluation frameworks for meaningful participation were developed from various scholars.FindingsThe evaluation showed that the public hearings partially met the criteria of information provision and representativeness. However, there are rooms for improvement on participation in decision-making process, social learning and influence over policy decision-making. Therefore, this study proposes two recommendations. First, more flexible form of public participation is needed to enable discussions among various groups of stakeholders. Second, the organizer should communicate with stakeholders about how their opinions influence the final master plan in order to create sense of belonging among community members.Originality/valueThis research developed the evaluation framework for public participation in old town conservation master plan in developing country.

Achieving Public Participation through Risk Management for Sustainable Procurement Management in Devolved System of Governments in Kenya

Public participation is a concept enshrined in the Kenyan constitution, 2010 with an intention to devolve powers to the common citizens and increase transparency and accountability hence may play a role towards public procurement sustainability. However, the relationship between public participation through risk management and sustainable procurement management has not yet been established despite many community-based infrastructure projects facing a lot of supply disruptions, health and safety issues as well as poor supplier selection in county governments in Kenya. The study, therefore, intended to assess the influence of public participation through risk management for sustainable procurement management in devolved systems of government in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive study design. The target population was 1146 while 348 respondents were sampled through a stratified sampling method from Makueni, Machakos, and Kitui Counties. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze collected data while the F-test was used to test the hypothesis of the study. SPSS aided in data analysis. Key findings of the study indicate a positive and linear relationship between public participation (risk management) and sustainable procurement management. A recommendation is therefore made to both national Government and county governments to stipulate and implement policies that would improve public participation so as to improve sustainable procurement management in devolved systems of government. The study proposes that another public participation framework stipulates (Procurement planning, contract administration, monitoring, and evaluation) as well as other counties be investigated in order to have a holistic picture of the phenomena and the entire country.

Framework for public sector participation in public-private partnership projects in Nigeria

The establishment of an appropriate guide for the participants in the implementation of public-private partnership projects is considered very important to the success of the process. The objective of this study is to identify the factors required for successive management of public-private partnership projects and develop a framework that will guide public sector participants in order to create innovation in the process. A qualitative research approach was used through case study analysis and an extensive review of past studies to determine the parameters that are required for the success of public-private partnership projects. The practices and status in some selected countries were reviewed to understand the process and establish best practices from those experiences. Also, three local cases were analysed to determine the parameters responsible for success and failure of those projects. The framework developed was then validated through questionnaire survey using the experts on public-private partnership projects. This study produced a public-private partnership implementation framework for the public participants in the project delivery. This framework also proposed a new agency to audit the projects' implementation process.

Development of public participation framework for environmental impact assessment

Development of public participation framework for environmental impact assessment

Development of public participation framework for environmental impact assessment

Development of public participation framework for environmental impact assessment

Stakeholder Participation on Sustainability of Community Development Projects Under Devolved Governance in Makueni County, Kenya

Kenya's development agenda has been faced with historical challenges ranging from the top-down approach in development, allocation, and direction of huge resources to unplanned and unforeseen projects and poor projects management. Public participation is a fundamental standard of any nation's democracy and has remained one of the significant requirements for projects success and sustainability. The promulgation of the new Kenyan Constitution, 2010, made a deliberate effort to pave way for participatory development. However, this has not been fully realized in most sectors eight years down the line. The study sought to establish how citizen involvement in the project management cycle relates to the success and long-term existence of projects. In addition, it sought to investigate the implications of the mechanisms, processes and the established county structures of public participation at the county level. From the findings, the study established that mechanisms, processes, and country structures employed by the county governments and other development partners directly influence project sustainability. It also realized that the county has made some progress in entrenching public participation however with partial implementation of all the mechanisms, processes and structures required for sustainable public participation. The study recommends that the level of participation in projects should be increased; with more emphasis on the village and ward structures with adequate, clear and time information flow on public participation. The County Public Participation Framework should be enacted into law.

Європейські стандарти взаємодії органів публічної влади з інститутами громадянського суспільства

У статті проаналізовано стандарти співпраці влади і громадянського суспільства, визначено сутність, завдання і форми взаємодії органів влади та інститутів громадянського суспільства. 
 Висвітлено регламентуючі документи Європейського Союзу щодо взаємодії органів публічної влади та громадянського суспільства.
 Окреслено принципи та стандарти взаємодії влади та інститутів громадянського суспільства.
 Проаналізовано особливості, специфіку та умови ефективної взаємодії громадянського суспільства й органів публічної влади в країнах-членах ЄС.
 Показано що у більшості країн ЄС законодавство передбачає створення спеціальних органів, які діють на постійній основі, наприклад, консультативні органи з питань захисту прав споживачів та довкілля, охорони здоров’я за участю відповідних інститутів громадянського суспільства, що відіграють ключову роль у процесах прийняття рішень органами публічної влади у визначених їх компетенціями сферах.
 Встановлено, що ефективною моделлю взаємодії громадянського суспільства і органів публічної влади є співпраця за умов певного збігу інтересів та ціннісних установок окремих громадян і соціальних груп з органами публічної влади.

Community Participation in Mahikeng Local Municipality: Power Relations Perspective

In South Africa, community members have the constitutional right to partake in local governance and the local municipal council has the constitutional mandate to facilitate community participation. Qualitative research was used to assess the impact of power relations on community participation in the Mahikeng Local Municipality. The study findings indicate that power differentials contributed to the abandonment of the legislative provisions in the Mahikeng Local Municipality in the North-West Province of South Africa. Among other things, this paper recommends finalisation of the draft public participation framework. The framework should clearly identify and define the roles of the community, elected councillors and traditional authorities. The paper recommends the development of a strategy that includes clear and comprehensive public participation guidelines, protocols and processes to facilitate implementation of the framework. In consultation with the community, a detailed community participation schedule must be developed, implemented and continuously monitored and evaluated.