Involving the Voiceless
Project Communication Managemet
Communication for Participatory Approach and
Transparency to Development Actions and Policies
Some groups-especially the very poor, women, indigenous people, or others who may not be fully mobilized-may not have the organizational or financial wherewithal to participate effectively.
These are often the exact stakeholders whose interests are critical to the implementation success and sustainability of programs.
Special efforts need to be made to level the disequilibrium of power, prestige, wealth, and knowledge when stronger and more established stakeholders are meant to collaborate with weaker, less organized groups.
Building Capacity
Mandating Representation
In the
Benin Health example, the sponsors and designers foresaw the possibility of women being left out. So they made participation of at least one mother on each village health committee a "rule of the game." In the Chad Education example, no special measures were taken in advance to mobilize and invite women. The result? None showed up at the national participatory planning workshop; by then it was too late in the process to do anything about it.
Organizing Separate Events
In designing the Togo Urban Development project, initial studies revealed that women had almost exclusive responsibility at the household level for the sanitary environment, providing water, managing waste, and family health. Yet, during the preappraisal mission, the first two meetings included no women. So the Bank team suggested holding a separate meeting at which the women could articulate their priorities and concerns. Their main concerns-which differed from those of the men-were men's unemployment, the need for standpipes and latrines in markets, providing central play space for children, access to drinking water, access to finance and credit, and training in management, hygiene, health, and literacy. The women's agenda was fully inorganizationald in the final project design, which included employment generation through labor-intensive public works and a training program in environmental management geared to the needs of a largely illiterate and mostly female population.
Leveling Techniques
Power differences among stakeholders can be diminished through the use of participatory techniques. Skilled design and facilitation of participatory processes can promote "level" interactions. Small working groups, governed by facilitator-monitored "behavioral rules" that ensure that all participants speak and receive respect for their contributions, is one way of doing it. "Leveling" is facilitated when people listen to or observe quietly what others say without criticism or opposition. In the
Egypt Resource Management example, outsiders watched respectfully as the Bedouins drew maps on the ground. Quiet observation encouraged the "voiceless" to express themselves through nonverbal representations. Similarly, role reversal, when the Bedouins led outsiders on transect walks instead of the other way around, helped level the playing field. Role-playing exercises, such as used in the Colombia Energy example, which helped sensitize powerful stakeholders to the lives others lead, are another means of leveling.
Using Surrogates
In the Mexico Hydroelectric example, community meetings in Zimapan between
the national power organization, CFE, and the communities included mostly women because their
husbands were migrant laborers, working in the