Proceedings of Conference. 4th-7th June 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Proceedings of Conference. 4th-7th June 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland.

 

 

Closing Plenary

Involving people in policy development: A conference view

Wendy Kenyon and Carol Hunsberger

Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Scotland

The paper reports on a workshop involving 120 participation experts that addressed the effectiveness of public participation in policy development. The HAP method used in the workshop is briefly reviewed followed by a discussion of positive aspects of participation in policy development. The most popular positive comments made by participants were that some participation does exist especially in a democratic society. In addition, participants identified the positive role of the media, the demand by the public to be involved and the evolving nature of participatory methods as important in how effectively the public are involved in policy development. Negative aspects identified included the lack of examples of full involvement, the abuse of participation, problems related to representation and lack of institutionalisation of participation. Potential solutions to the negative issues are discussed and a transcription of the final action plan, focussing in institutionalisation of participation in future, is set out.

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How to better represent different values in participatory approaches: A conference perspective

Carol Hunsberger and Wendy Kenyon

Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Scotland

The paper reports on a workshop involving 120 participation experts that addressed the issue of representation and public participation in policy development. The HAP method used in the workshop is briefly reviewed followed by a discussion of positive issues related to representation suggested by participants. These included such issues as multi-stakeholder processes becoming increasingly recognised and advocated, many examples of processes that have succeeded at eliciting the expression of many different values and others. Negative issues related to representation were also requested. Responses included the issue of h idden values in the process, shortcomings in process design and framing and difficulties in finding and involving all relevant actors. The action plan to address shortcomings in representation in participatory processes focussed on four areas. First developing methods to identify, develop and discuss values in participatory processes. Second, ensuring processes and facilitators values are minimised in designing and running the process. Third, getting the right people involved in the participatory process to identify and discuss values. Finally, ensuring that outputs from the participatory process are linked to policy making.

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Involving the public in policy development at multiple scales

Wendy Kenyon and Carol Hunsberger

Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Scotland

The paper reports on a workshop involving 120 participation experts that addressed the issue of scale and public participation in policy development. The HAP method used in the workshop is briefly reviewed followed by a discussion of positive issues related to scale identified by participants. A number of themes are identified in the paper including that there are numerous flexible and diverse participatory methods available, that information technology makes working at multiple scales simpler and that there is increasing interest in looking at multiple scales. Negative aspects of scale and participation identified by participants include the problem of establishing the relevant scale in the first place, too few examples of participation at multiple scale and resource requirements. The final action plan suggests ways to improve how good participatory methods are at involving people at multiple scales focusing on four areas. First, the role of new tools such as information technology. Second, funding research into multi- scale links. Third, sharing experience of using multiple methods at different scales, and finally, evaluating what works, when.

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