PRIA conceptualises participatory development from the perspective of rights, accountability and valuing lived knowledge. Our experience has shown facilitation of social learning promotes sustainable participation and social mobilisation of the oppressed and excluded households, such that they begin to develop a sense of individual and collective agency.
Authentic citizen/people’s participation must challenge and transform the existing relations of power. The guiding principle for PRIA’s work on participation has been to promote full inclusion and transform the status quo at every level.
As we step into a new decade at PRIA, we recognise that our approach towards participatory development needs to evolve with the changing times.
Participation as a process of social learning and reflection is deeply grounded in people’s experience and knowledge. This process is centred around the idea that citizens know their own realities better than anyone else, and therefore, the inclusion of their perspective is necessary for active participation in developmental outcomes. Participatory methods to use local knowledge enables them to collectively discuss their problems and find solutions.
Even when civic spaces shrink under authoritarianism, people have always found a way to participate. The challenge is to listen and closely watch a community’s struggles, see where they are creating their own spaces for change, and then strengthen those spaces to protect the rights of those who speak truth to power.
Meaningful citizen participation happens incrementally, it is not a leap but a learning process. For such learning, an interface to seek balance between the universalised theory of participation and particularised, local forms and practice of participation is necessary. A learning pathway to sustain participation includes all groups (caste, gender, religion, location, literacy, language, and abilities).
Prioritising internet access for everyone, digital literacy and citizen education is vital for authentic online public participation. Technological solutions promoted by the state in the name of consulting citizens must promote transparency and protect the privacy of the data collected. In this, a social accountability approach must be used, as it obligates the state to encourage meaningful citizen participation.
Institutions of direct participation influence the building of trust with citizens. Learning and sharing from one’s experiences, building the capacities of community organisations, and equipping marginalised communities to use the tools of social accountability to understand power relations in participative institutions are important.
Young people are already committed to starting the change, be it at an individual or societal level. It is both their responsibility and their right to participate in democracy. The commitment to participate is strengthened when young people are seen not as ‘beneficiaries’ or ‘instruments of change’ but rather as ‘equal partners’.
Sensitisation and learning citizenship is crucial for active participation. Multiple approaches are necessary to make citizens aware of the need to participate and to create a culture of participation. For policymakers to understand the impacts of programs and policies, the platform must bring together people from various diverse backgrounds, and strike a balance between ‘voice’ and ‘listening’, such that voice does not become mere noise.
Re-imagining participation in the post-pandemic era, therefore, requires promotion of respectful nurturance of knowledge diversities and human capacities, under-pinned by universal values of justice, equality and liberty. Technology needs to serve the right to participation of all to co-design individual and collective futures, locally and globally.
These themes were developed based on extensive dialogue held around gender during the PRIA@40 conversations between August and December 2021. Stakeholders – partners, associates, supporters, experts, investors, colleagues – drawn from civil society, government, business, media and academia – in collaboration with 50 national and international partners, participated.
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