Resources

The primary objective of the workshop was for the small group of experienced participants, from both the urban and rural traditions, to explore the problems and prospects associated with developing and applying participatory approaches in urban areas, and to clarify key issues and opportunities for future action. This paper summarises the results. Sections include: Characteristics of Urban Participatory Approaches (internal and external constraints/strengths, the role of facilitators, methods used, actors involved, challenges and lessons, etc.); Emerging Issues and Questions; SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis on the Use of Participatory Approaches in Urban Areas; and Methodologies and Strategies; Capacity Strengthening and Training; and How to Institutionalise a Participatory Approach.

This manual is divided into three parts. Part 1 introduces important concepts about homeworkers and value chains. Part 2 is the heart of the study, which provides the tools needed to carry out a value chain study. In particular it shows how to construct maps to represent a value chain, which make it easier to understand some of the complex aspects within the chain, such as the numerous controls and links that exist. Other techniques explored are: " widening the information net and strengthening the basis for action by learning from buyers, manufacturers, homeworkers, and comparing their perspectives; " working with public agencies, as these actors impact significantly on the lives of homeworkers in terms of regulations and laws impacting on labour, trade policies affecting industry, and forms of harassment of labour; " applying gender analysis to garment chains, which is advocated as a component to be included in all research of homeworkers. Part 3 puts forward suggestions about how to use the research findings from the value chain analysis to improve the conditions and opportunities for homeworkers, and how to promote best practice amongst employers. It deals with how to begin working towards solutions, and how to support collective action and mobilise around codes and standards, in particular the issues of occupational health and safety and child labour. It also looks at how to help workers switch chains.

This report presents the findings of a case study on participatory budgeting (PB) for urban governance in Recife, Brazil. It focuses on the political and institutional processes, systems and mechanisms (informal as well as formal) that result in inclusive and pro-poor decisions and outcomes in urban settings. It provides some context and background to PB in Recife, its underlying political and institutional dynamics, and its implementation by sector. Chapter 6 reports citizen feedback on PB, local governance and poverty, and Chapter 7 situates the Recife experience in the wider context of PB in Brazil, especially Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte, and finds that distinct political cultures and institutional designs matter. Chapter 8 concludes that the case of Recife demonstrates that PB can work in administrations not ruled by the Workers' Party, and in municipalities with higher poverty indicators. Participatory 'arrangements' are considered justified on normative democratic grounds, for the sake of efficiency and to improve government responsiveness. Despite the institutional and procedural challenges and bureaucratic resistance it faces, PB increases the capacity of excluded social groups to influence the decision-making process, and the access of the poor to basic services.

This paper describes one of the earliest experiences of the New Zealand City Councils in using participatory approaches to gain active inclusion of community members and their views into decision making processes within Councils. The Palmerstone North City Council set out to gather Palmerstone North City residents' views on what they value about the physical and natural characteristics of the city. This was done in two residential suburbs; Hokowhitu and Takaro/Highbury, geographically opposite, being at either end of the city, and also very different in socio-economic circumstances. Methodologies used included community workshops with mapping and H-diagrams. Due to a poor turn out at the public workshops, community views were also collected from less formally organised activities where the maps generated from the workshops were taken to a range of sites such as sports clubs, shopping centres and pubs. The paper details the methods employed, the final reporting and follow-up to the process.

In 1996, the City of Ottowa Council was working on two land management project: the Green way System Management Plan and the Open Spaces Project. When realised, the Greenway System will link natural areas, ecological corridors, hydro corridors, parks and communities, while the Open Spaces Project plans for protected areas. The input of the community was needed for both projects and a series of community workshops were facilitated to gain insight into the various stakeholders' concern for the city's open spaces. The goal of the workshops was to better understand which green and open spaces people value, why they value them, and what their visions were for the future of these spaces. The workshops incorporated community mapping facilitated by staff from the city's Environmental Branch. Participants placed great emphasis on community/citizen action. They felt that the community should be better organised to have a voice in planning, management and operations. The results from the consultation were used to support decision-making on the direction of the projects and were used to determine the social criteria and value of Ottowa's existing natural and open spaces. The authors conclude that upon evaluation of the methods and the results of the consultation, the City should use participatory methods more often in the future.

This article describes the participatory method æBarangay Development Planning through Participatory Situational Analysis, Planning, Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation (BDP-Participatory SAPIME) used by ECPG (Empowering Civic Participation in Governance), an NGO working on village-level with local governance in the Philippines. The article gives a brief background to legislation and structures related to peopleÆs participation in governance, and goes on to explain the methodology the work of ECPG in Quezon City to improve urban participatory local development planning. In the BDP-Participatory SAPIME community members themselves identify and analyse their problems, the situation within which these problems are embedded, and the possible solutions. The key elements of the methodology are presented (social preparation and capacity-building interventions; multi-sector assemblies; preparation and mobilisation) together with the planning methodology. The article gives account of reactions from the community regarding the situation analysis, the process of participatory planning and implementation of the plan; it also looks at reactions from the local government. Some of the main issues and challenges encountered, and the possibilities of replication are discussed. It is concluded that the experience shows that the system is workable and practical and could be replicated in other villages (barangays). However, all the villages participating in this pilot were poor urban communities and the authors consider that another set of pilots may have to be conducted in dissimilar communities so that a more comprehensive set of guidelines and performance indicators can be developed.