Civil Society Participation in Policy Processes

Author(s): Camilo Villa
Publication date: Monday 31 July 2006

This research study takes as its starting point, the perspective that civil society participation in governance, particularly policy processes, has largely taken on a mere consultative rather than transformative role when initiated and driven by government or donors. An indicative example is the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and subsequent implementation strategies which highlight participation as a conditionality for international concessional and grant aid. While regarded by some sectors as an opportunity for engaging more actively in policy decision making processes which they may have otherwise been excluded from, others have regarded it as a means to silence dissenting voices by also co-opting such voices into the mainstream agenda.

The ideology and practice of participation can thus be described as fraught with tension regarding the extent to which civil society participation can use or open these ?invited? spaces to more substantial transformative spaces of engagement or whether such engagement may further de-politicise the concept of participation. In addressing these concerns, this research study seeks to explore the strategies civil society organizations have engaged in towards more meaningful participatory engagement to influence policy decisions and monitor policy implementation more effectively from a pro-poor, rights based approach. As a case study, the Tanzanian PRS/P strategies and related policy processes, and specifically the role of the NGO Policy Forum (NPF) as an umbrella body for a range of member organizations provides an opportunity to explore the perceptions and dynamics of participation within policy engagement in both invited and self-created spaces. This research will therefore explore the experiences and attempts of the NPF and its member organizations in influencing policy decisions within the spaces this umbrella body has selected to operate in. The objectives of the study are (i) more broadly to contribute to the debates on re-positioning participation within a radical political development paradigm and more specifically (ii) to explore the experiences and strategies of engaging in invited and created spaces for participation in policy processes in attempts at extending the transformative possibilities of participation, (iii) to explore the relationship between the various actors within these alliances and occupied spaces in terms of power relations, representation, legitimacy and more broadly political responsibility.
July 2006