Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

OWNERSHIPW O R L D R E S O U R C E S 2 0 0 864Greater Legitimacy,Greater Capacity, Better ImplementationParticipation by the range of stakeholders in the activityplanning process and in the ongoing management of the activitybuilds the legitimacy of resource and business decisions made.Legitimacy translates to acceptance and “buy-in.” Even wherethere are clear winners and losers, the ownership built in theparticipatory process can lessen opposition and conflict when thedecisions are implemented.The process of successful participation is itself a learningexperience for most stakeholders—a process of social learning.Community members gain awareness of new opportunities andbecome familiar with their possible costs and benefits. They oftenacquire new skills: some are technical, such as learning how tomonitor resource parameters and trends; others are interpersonal.Community members who otherwise might not have interactedhave the chance to build relationships with one another, fosteringtrust and social cohesion—the currency of social capital. Inclusiveparticipation also deepens the community’s democratic culture.Participation brings well-known empowerment benefits aswell, such as confidence, increased social status, self-reliance, andsatisfaction at being included in the decision-making process. Itmay also help connect participants to government services,additional learning opportunities, or other resources of personalbenefit (Andersson et al. 2005:70).Increasing the legitimacy of a community decision-makingprocess and the capacities of the participants leads to better implementationof the project, management plan, or other resourcedecision. Skills and knowledge developed through a participatoryprocess may give participants greater ability to contribute to theproject activity, for example by being a monitor or advisor.Equally important, the legitimacy granted to a participatorydecision usually translates to greater compliance with the termsof the decision, such as fishing or harvest rules. This allowspeople to make more informed commitments—commitmentsthat they are more likely to keep (Andersson et al. 2005:67–71;Fritsch and Newig 2006:3–5; World Bank 1996:5–6).Participation is ImperfectDespite the known advantages of participation, it suffers fromdocumented weaknesses as well. Without conscious management,these weaknesses can advantage certain groups at theexpense of others, diminishing the legitimacy of the decisionstaken and the prospects for buy-in by the full array of stakeholders.The Poor Can Be ExcludedInclusiveness is a particular challenge for many participatoryprocesses, with typically marginalized groups such as the poor andwomen likely to be left out or their input discounted. Two dimensionsof inclusion are essential for true participation. Formalinclusion is the ability for community members to take part in aparticipatory process—to be present and allowed to speak up.Substantive inclusion relates to the extent that this formal input isactually taken into consideration by others—how well a communitymember’s voice is really heard. Too often, the poor suffer adouble exclusion, with fewer poor families taking part in participatoryprocesses overall and, when they do take part, being regardedas minority voices without authority. The participation of poorwomen is often a worst-case scenario. In a 1994 study of Nepal’sForest User Groups, women only constituted 3.5 percent of allmembers (Pozzoni and Kumar 2005:4–8; Dahal 1994:78).