Estratègies per al desenvolupament sostenible - Generalitat de ...

Strategy experience has made it clear that science-based and interdisciplinaryapproaches are helpful for identifying social, environmental and economicproblems and options, but are not sufficient. They cannot address all the issuesnor provide access to all necessary and useful information. Much of this is heldby individuals and communities. Moreover, the decisions needed are valuejudgements. They need to be made with the participation of both “winners” and“losers”, so that some sort of agreement and commitment is reached on theoutcome. A people-centred approach is needed as a complement to the sciencebasedapproach. There is, therefore, a clear role for both technical inputs byindividual experts and the broader involvement of many people in participatoryexercises – but at the same time not overburdening these people, resulting in“participation fatigue”. It is very important that a balance be struck betweenthese two approaches. The need for the “widest possible participation” inworking towards sustainable development is noted in a number of chapters ofAgenda 21, although there is little clarity about how to assure it.The proper selection of participants is perhaps the most critical step in establishinga strategy process. The composition of participants will determine both thelegitimacy of the strategy and its ability to develop new ideas, insights andconsensus for action. Issues of representativeness, sampling and appropriatedegrees of participation are important. A balance needs to be struck betweeninvolving as wide a range of participants as possible to forge a broad-basedand durable consensus, and avoiding overloading the facilitating and managerialcapacities of those who are organizing the strategy process.Experience of strategic planning over the past two decades indicates a numberof requirements for effective participation. All of these requirements will need tobe well planned if the benefits of participation are to be realized. Otherwise,interest groups can be left out of the process, the complex organizational tasksof participation can be underestimated, and the many prerequisites requiredmay not be in place in time. This entails various tasks, which might be coordinatedby the NSSD secretariat with a broad proto-group of stakeholders:(a) Mapping out the themes that may need to be worked on during the strategyprocess and by different groups of stakeholders: for example, sectoral, crosssectoralor comprehensive sustainable development issues.156(b) Identifying the main levels at which policy and institutional changes will beneeded to address the above themes/issues – usually: national, provincialand local.