Module 4 Planning SP

What’s in Module 4  Opportunities for SP  Different SP models  Communication plan  Monitoring and evaluating  Working session

Opportunities for SP

In what contexts will SP processes be needed? List some examples from your own experience

Opportunities for SP: examples  Policy development e.g. development of Namibia’s Coastal White Paper  Programme assessment e.g. development of transboundary TDA/SAP in a Large Marine Ecosystem  Development planning e.g. preparation of Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for a municipality  Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) e.g. proposed windfarm Increasing spatial scale

Source: UNEP

What mechanisms have had success to increase the connection between local government and their constituents? Connecting government and their constituents...

Integrated Development Planning (IDP) processes in South Africa  IDP forums  ward committee meetings  road shows  budget processes  stakeholder meetings, forums and individual consultations

“Community-driven development is the process by which community groups assume control and authority over decisions and resources in development projects, which affect their lives. This means reversing control and accountability from the central authorities to community organisations in the initiation, planning, implementation, operation, maintenance and evaluation of development projects with agencies playing a supportive role.” To borrow from Thami Ngwenya…

Genuine public participation assumes two things: (1) that government creates itself as accountable, transparent and open, with clear structures and processes for enabling participation, and (2) that civil society actively takes advantage of available mechanisms for participation, or engages in creating such mechanisms where none exist. Source: Kabemba (2003)

Different SP models

Let’s review what a SP process might entail…

1.Define what you want to achieve, what are the objectives? 2.Who are the stakeholders and what is their interest/ potential role in the process? 3.Plan communication/ participation activities (there may be several rounds) 4.Don’t assume it’s a success, measure and adjust approach In 4 simple steps...

A “belt and braces” approach  Define preliminary objectives  Rough stakeholder mapping  Awareness drive / baseline study / survey  Full stakeholder analysis  Prepare participation plan  Conduct cycle of participatory/communication activities as appropriate for audience / project  Measure results

Process suggested by A. LOUPPE, a French governance expert: SURVEY starting from individual needs expression DEBATE making crucial themes, tension lines and partnership opportunities emerge PROJECT DESIGN associating citizens or users awareness with technical or political expertise IMPLEMENTATION getting support from the citizen standing either as, - adressee - co-producer - assessor Louppe’s process

Effective participation...

River basin management planning in Scotland

Comunication plan

How to put it all together? How do we ensure smooth implementation of the SP process and its communication activities? Write down some ideas of what should be included in a communication plan

How to start? Start from the needs expressed by stakeholders and identify the communication objectives we want to achieve before undertaking specific activities

What we need to know  Who is the Target Audience?  What are the Key Messages for stakeholders?  Which Communication Tools are most suitable?  What are the Implementation Details?

Communication plan: example Target Audience / Stakeholder Group AimCommunication Tools Who to Action? By When? Costs?

Monitoring and evaluating

How can we measure that the participation is successful? Are there indicators which can be used? What would one want to measure? Time to write down some ideas…

Stakeholder participation is not a single event with easily quantifiable results. The measures of its success are thus by nature often qualitative. Measure against objectives initally set for stakeholder engagement!

 measure empowerment and capacity issues (e.g., changes in stakeholders’ knowledge, perceptions, practices);  take into account limitations due to language, gender, economic, and cultural contexts and biases;  be disaggregated by gender, socioeconomic status, indigenous or minority community membership, government, and private sector in order to assess progress made within different stakeholder groups. Indicators should... Source: ELI

Examples of indicators...  Numbers of stakeholder workshops/meetings and attendance levels of various stakeholder groups  Number of women, indigenous groups, or other traditionally under-represented stakeholders represented at meetings, workshops, or on stakeholder institutions  Number of comments received  Quality and timeliness of information available to stakeholders  Capacity of stakeholders to contribute meaningfully to decision making  Representation of stakeholder values in decisions Source: ELI quantitative qualitative

1.Define a set of communication objectives. How will these address the interests of the project and of stakeholder groups? 2.Does it make sense to group stakeholders by interest/geography/demographic into target groups? 3.Identify one or more communication initiatives/ opportunities for stakeholder input (i.e. broad campaigns) 4.Outline what mix of media/techniques would be most appropriate to engage each of the relevant target audience groups in each of the broad campaigns suggested above. Scenario: working session (use one of the course scenarios) Based on the stakeholder analysis done earlier, draw up a basic communication plan: