Participatory Methods Toolkit: A Practitioner's Manual

To facilitate practical knowledge sharing, the King Baudouin Foundation and the Flemish Institute for Science and Technology Assessment (viWTA), both based in Brussels and actively involved in participatory methods, decided to edit a publication with the ambition to create a hands-on toolkit for starting up and managing participatory projects.The original English edition of the toolkit first appeared in December 2003. The success of this edition motivated us to produce a second completely revised and enlarged edition of the toolkit. The core of the toolkit incorporates 3 additional in-depth fiches on participatory methods giving a total of 13.Per method there is a description of when to use, the different steps, best practices and budget. All these are accompanied by different hints and tips. A chapter with general guidelines for using participatory methods includes a comparative chart of the discussed methods and the brief overview of 50 methods and techniques

Identity Construction in Europe: A Discursive Approach. IES WORKING PAPER 2/2010

Proposing a discursive approach to studying identity, this paper presents Positioning Theory as a theoretical framework for conceptualizing the construction of identity in discourse. The Positioning Diamond is employed to analyse the discourse surrounding the Danish Euro referendum. The analysis reveals how identities are constructed in discourse that promotes a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote in the referendum, highlighting the generally implicit allocation of rights and duties to actors within a specific narrative context. The penultimate section discusses appropriate criteria for evaluating discursive accounts, distinguishing between cases in which truth, normative and ethical criteria are applicable. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of policy considerations and recommendations

Is the EU’s Governance ‘Good’?: An assessment of EU governance in its partnership with ACP States. IES WORKING PAPER 1/2010

This paper examines both the processes and outcomes of governance in the context of the EU’s relationship with ACP States within the period of the Cotonou Agreement (CA). It discusses and assesses a variety of governance mechanisms, including the European Commission’s use of the governance concept, EPAs, manifestations of partner preferences, the EDF, the revision of the CA, and Fisheries Partnership Agreements. Specific examples of the wielding of each mechanism are assessed based upon two criteria: a) the extent to which the wielding of the mechanism by the EU is a manifestation of “good governance”, and b) the extent to which the EU’s wielding of the mechanism has resulted, or is likely to result, in the sustainable development of and reduction of poverty in ACP countries. The examples are chosen to illustrate contradictions between rhetoric and practice and the consequential negative (actual and potential) impact upon development in ACP States. The final section offers suggestions for improving the EU’s governance processes and their outcomes for development

Méthodes participatives. Un guide pour lutilisateur

La participation aux processus participatifs développe également les capacités du public en l'(in)formant et en créant des réseaux de personnes qui peuvent continuer à aborder les questions politiques lorsqu'elles évoluent. Toutefois, le public n'est pas le seul qui ait besoin d'apprendre. Le meilleur moyen pour les décideurs de savoir comment améliorer leurs 'produits et services' est de recevoir un feed-back direct des usagers. Plutôt que d'agir d'abord, puis de corriger, il est plus efficace que les utilisateurs finaux soient impliqués d'emblée dans la conception et la planification

Leitfaden partizipativer Verfahren. Ein Handbuch für die Praxis.

Dieser Leitfaden für die Praxis stellt im Detail 13 Beteiligungsverfahren vor, die im Rahmen der Technikfolgenabschätzung zum Einsatz kommen: 21st Century Town Meeting, Charette, Citizens’ Jury, Konsensuskonferenz, Deliberative Polling, Delphi-Verfahren, ExpertInnenpanel, Fokusgruppe, Partizipative Evaluierung (PAME), Planungszelle, Szenario-Verfahren, Technolgiefestival, World Café. Darüber hinaus wird in der Einleitung dargelegt, was unter Partizipation zu verstehen ist und zu welchen Themen partizipative Verfahren sinnvoll eingesetzt werden können. Weiters werden ausführlich allgemeine Richtlinien und praktische Tipps (Checklisten etc.) gegeben. Der Leitfaden ist die deutsche Übersetzung der 2. Auflage des im Original auf Englisch erschienen "Participatory Methods Toolkit", herausgegeben vom flämischen TA-Institut viWTA und der König-Baudouin-Stiftung

“Fearless, Powerful, Filipino”: Identity Positioning in the Hashtag Activism of #BabaeAko

This study investigated the discursive production and contestation of identities in the Philippine hashtag campaign, #BabaeAko (“I am a woman”). Using Slocum-Bradley’s Positioning Diamond (2009) it explored the relational process of identity negotiation between the women of the campaign and the President along with his supporters. Explicit utterance of the identity category “woman” with attributes of fearlessness and power, and sustaining such positioning across social episodes, allowed #BabaeAko advocates to resist oppressive attributions grounded on structural inequalities. In addition, the twofold storylines of calling out misogyny and calling for solidarity established the discursive activism of the campaign as both “talking back” and “calling for” likeminded individuals. Findings are further discussed in relation to hashtag feminism and political action along with the implications of identity claiming to feminist online mobilization