Resources

This paper summarises Save the Children UK's experience in facilitating children and young people's participation in PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers) processes, highlighting in particular the experiences of Vietnam and Honduras, and drawing on insights from Lesotho, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the work of a Guyanese NGO. It discusses the effectiveness of a range of approaches, highlights challenges, outlines learning points, and raises questions about the impact and cost-benefit trade-off of children and young people's participation in PRSPs. It explores the difficulties and challenges of involving children, and argues that children and young people can make a significant contribution to developing effective strategies to tackle poverty within PRSP processes. Some lessons learnt include: Children and young people need to be well informed about the opportunities for influencing PRSPs, the challenges, the process, its aims, their role, the time required, the channels of decision-making and the context of PRSPs; Effective participation takes considerable time; Feedback needs to be given to the children involved; The most marginalised children need to be included; Consideration needs to be given to compensating children for the cost of their involvement; Adults should be involved too, such as local decision-makers, family members, teachers etc.; Partnerships need to be developed to share expertise; International organisations should work with indigenous civil society organisations, or local officials, on participatory initiatives to increase their access to PRSP decision-making processes, rather than undercutting their role.

This report presents preliminary findings and recommendations from research on natural resources in decentralisation efforts around the world. The findings derive from WRI's (World Resources Institute) Accountability, Decentralisation, and Environment Comparative Research Project in Africa, and cases presented at the WRI-organised Conference on Decentralisation and Environment in Bellagio, Italy in February 2002. The Africa-wide research project conducted field studies in Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe in 2000 and 2001. The papers presented were based on WRI's African research project, WRI's Resources Policy Support Initiative in South East Asia, plus case studies from Bolivia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua and Thailand. This report evaluates the degree to which natural resource decentralisations have taken place and their measurable social and environmental outcomes. Most of the cases focus on forestry, while a few explore wildlife and water management. The report highlights key issues within natural resource management and democratic decentralisation. The main recommendations from the report are: work with democratic local institutions as a first priority; transfer sufficient and appropriate powers; transfer powers as secure rights; support equity and justice; establish minimum environmental standards; establish fair and accessible adjudication; support local civic education; give decentralisation time; and develop indicators for monitoring and evaluating decentralisation and its outcomes.

This toolkit was elaborated by the Economic Literacy Action Network (ELAN) in the USA. The aim of the toolkit is to help people strengthen their analysis of globalisation and share ideas of ways that people were struggling against globalisation internationally. The toolkit is based on a gathering held in Chicago 1998 where educational materials already created were shared and discussed, and on consequent sessions held in ELAN groups. It presents seven sessions on different subject related to globalisation, which can be used as a basis for discussion, learning and reflection, and is intended to be used in smaller groups. The sessions include exercises, questions and case studies. The toolkit first gives a brief introduction to the principles and practices of popular education and goes on to the sessions, with the following contributions: womenÆs education in the global economy, looking at how women indifferent countries and communities are tied together by the globalisation of production and markets; a global economy workshop in three parts focussing on power relations and new peopleÆs movements, and a globalisation glossary; Analysing the financial crises in Asia; Privatisation; WTO for beginners; a workbook dealing with welfare, crime, injustice and health care from a Southern perspective, including a critical thinking toolbox; a participatory workshop on womenÆs labour and economic globalisation. The toolkit is concluded with a directory to ELAN groups.

This guidebook is intended for communities that wish to actively engage their citizens in constructive decision-making processes. It was commissioned by Glendale City Council, USA. The book contains information useful to increasing citizen participation in the community development process. The book establishes the need for public participation (PP), and then in brief, caption-by-caption outlines the various roles of facilitators in the participation process. The guidebook explores: the concept of PP; how communities get polarised, and conflict resolution; when PP is needed; how PP can be integrated into local decision-making; managementÆs role in decision-making; elected officialsÆ role in PP; staffing and organising for PP; preparing a PP plan; public information in PP; obtaining consensus; issues management and PP; a thought process for developing PP; the decision-making process and PP; defining PP objectives and information; defining who is ôthe publicö in PP; PP techniques; special conditions affecting selection of techniques; and examples of PP programmes. It goes on to give practical recommendations for how to: listen to the public; design and conduct public meetings; work in advisory groups; conduct interviews; use polls or questionnaires; analyse public comment; work with the media; use third party neutrals; obtain credibility fro technical studies; communicate with the public about risk; develop mitigation programmes; and evaluate PP programmes. It has a strong emphasis on providing examples for community building derived from experiences of the public sector in the USA.

This paper surveys public participation policies across a range of international institutions and environmental agreements to better understand whether opportunities exist for meaningful participation in international decisions that affect the environment. It examines the implementation of Principle 10 in the Rio Declaration, supported by the Aarhus convention which details measures countries must take to ensure that citizens have access to information, participation, and justice in decisions that affect the environment. It looks specifically on how Multilateral Development Banks, Multilateral Environmental Agreements, and trade regimes and regional economic bodies have lived up to these goals. Co-produced by WRIÆs (World Resources Institute) International Financial Flows and the Environment Program (IFFE) and The Access Initiative (TAI), the survey concludes that: Policies on public participation are quickly becoming the norm; Public participation at the national level is uniformly weak; domestic stakeholders have limited ability to influence international decisions that affect their environment; Institutions and agreements subject to the greatest public scrutiny have the most advanced public participation policy frameworks; A common methodology is needed to assess the implementation and practice of public participation. This analysis provides the reader with an overview of where multilateral institutions are contributing to the development of effective public participation, and the extent to which opportunities exist in domestic and international political spheres for affected parties and the interested public to incorporate sustainability concerns in multilateral decision-making processes.

This research report is borne out of CDRN and CAREÆs attempts to strengthen their support to civil society organisations in Uganda. The report takes the widely held belief that the needs and interests of poorer people are directly or indirectly represented through community-based organisations, and that working with CBOs is therefore a route to poverty reduction as its starting point. As more and more initiatives, both government and NGO-led, attempt to use this channel to reach the poor, the research examines the validity of this assumption. The report concludes by suggesting that the assumption: æfind the groups and you have found the poorÆ is only partially correct. It might be more accurate to assume that æin some kinds of groups, you will find some kinds of poor people.Æ
The report is structured into six main sections: introduction; an overview of the research sites, groups and external perspectives on group formation; the strengths and weaknesses of groups in representing the poor; exploring the relationship between a group and external groups/ institutions; an exploration of where the poorer members of a community are if they are not in groups; and conclusions and recommendations.