Nfp principles: Participation and partnership
Definition and significance
Participation is a process whereby stakeholders (i.e. concerned individuals, groups and organizations) are consulted about, and become actively involved, in a project or programme. However, to participate in an nfp requires a certain degree of organization and capacity. This is why practical participation is mostly in the hands of organized interest groups.
Depending on the circumstances, participation may take many different forms. Stakeholders may participate in an nfp in various ways and may be involved in forest management either as labourers, as acknowledged users of defined forest products, as managers or as forest owners.
How to proceed and what precautions to take
A first step is to identify stakeholders and their relationships. An initial register of the most important and most obvious stakeholders might be obtained from conventional sources, such as the forest administration. To ensure equitable participation for all stakeholders according to their relative significance for the nfp, it is useful to categorize stakeholders, according to different parameters (e.g. direct versus indirect participation, powerful versus weak, national versus international). The next steps are to determine/analyse stakeholders’ influence and importance in the process, and identify the adequate level of participation and accompanying measures to involve them
How to measure progress
Measuring progress and gauging success seem particularly difficult in the case of stakeholder participation. This is because the parameters for determining whether participation is “good” or “successful” are mostly qualitative. What is needed is a set of factors by which to gauge the “quality” of participation in the context. One factor may be the degree of stakeholder organization in the nfp process as a sign of empowerment and enhanced use of stakeholder potential. The continuity of attendance and participation of stakeholders, e.g. the same individual is present throughout the process, is equally a good indicator to measure interest in and ownership of the process