Public participation

Public participation (citizen participation) is a political principle or practice, and may also be recognised as a right. The terms public participation, often called P2 by practitioners, is sometimes used interchangeably with the concept or practice of stakeholder engagement and/or popular participation.At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available. Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided. Public participation (citizen participation) is a political principle or practice, and may also be recognised as a right. The terms public participation, often called P2 by practitioners, is sometimes used interchangeably with the concept or practice of stakeholder engagement and/or popular participation. Generally public participation seeks and facilitates the involvement of those potentially affected by or interested in a decision. This can be in relation to individuals, governments, institutions, companies or any other entities that affect public interests. The principle of public participation holds that those who are affected by a decision have a right to be involved in the decision-making process. Public participation implies that the public's contribution will influence the decision. Public participation may be regarded as a way of empowerment and as vital part of democratic governance. In the context of knowledge management the establishment of ongoing participatory processes is seen by some in the facilitator of collective intelligence and inclusiveness, shaped by the desire for the participation of the whole community or society. Public participation is part of 'people centred' or 'human centric' principles, which have emerged in Western culture over the last thirtyyears, and has had some bearings of education, business, public policy and international relief and development programs. Public participation is advanced by the humanist movements. Public participation may be advanced as part of a 'people first' paradigm shift. In this respect public participation may challenge the concept that 'big is better' and the logic of centralizedhierarchies, advancing alternative concepts of 'more heads are better than one' and arguing that public participation can sustain productive and durable change. The role of public participation in economic and human development was enshrined in the 1990 African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation. In 1990 practitioners established the International Association for Public Practitioners in order to respond to the increasing interest in the practice, and in turn established the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). The practice is well established globally and the International Association of Public Participation now has affiliate organizations across the globe. Participatory budgeting is a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, in which ordinary city residents decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget. Participatory budgeting is usually characterized by several basic design features: identification of spending priorities by community members, election of budget delegates to represent different communities, facilitation and technical assistance by public employees, local and higher level assemblies to deliberate and vote on spending priorities, and the implementation of local direct-impact community projects.Participatory budgeting may be used by towns and cities around the world, and has been widely publicised in Porto Alegre, Brazil, were the first full participatory budgeting process was developed starting in 1989. In economic development theory, there is a school of participatory development. The desire to increase public participation in humanitarian aid and development has led to the establishment of a numerous context-specific, formal methodologies, matrices, pedagogies and ad hoc approaches. These include conscientization and praxis; Participatory action research (PAR), rapid rural appraisal (RRA) and participatory rural appraisal (PRA); appreciation influence control analysis (AIC); 'open space' approaches; Objectives Oriented Project Planning (ZOPP); vulnerability analysis and capacity analysis.