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Comparative Evaluation of the Impact of e-participation

in Local Climate Change Policy Programs

The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of Public Policies. A Delphi StudyDevelopment of Public Policies. A Delphi Study

Lourdes Torres, Vicente Pina, Lourdes Torres, Vicente Pina,

Dpt. of Accounting and Finance, University of Zaragoza, SpainDpt. of Accounting and Finance, University of Zaragoza, Spain

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Comparative Evaluation of the Impact of e-participation

in Local Climate Change Policy Programs

This paper is part of a broad research project funded by the European Science Foundation entitled “Comparative Assessment of EParticipation in the Context of Sustainable Development / Climate Change” coordinated by Prof. Herbert Kubicek, ifib, Germany. The research project team is made up of: Herbert Kubicek and Ralf Cimander (ifib-Bremen, Germany), Georg Aich, Doris Allhutter and Stephan Strauss (ITA-Viena, Austria) and Lourdes Torres and Vicente Pina (University of Zaragoza, Spain).

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The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of Public Policies. A Delphi StudyPublic Policies. A Delphi Study

• 1. Is citizen participation in climate saving of relevance in public authorities?

• 2. What can be expected from citizen participation (applied into the area of climate saving)?

• 3. What are the effects on local democracy and governance style?

• This paper aimed to contribute to closing the evaluation gap to closing the evaluation gap of the usefulness of e-participation/citizen participation processes.

Research questions:

Objective:To know the opinion of experts in climate saving programs about the contribution of citizens to e-participation initiatives: experiences and expectations.

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The Delphi method• The Delphi method is a systematic means of synthesizing the judgments

of experts (in this case in climate change or environmental protection). The application of the method follows these steps:

1) selection of the panel of experts, 2) development of the first round of interviews, through a questionnaire3) analysis of the first round responses, 4) preparation of the second round and analysis of responses, 5) third round, and the synthesis of the final results.

• The method is designed to elicit and develop individual responses to the problems posed and to enable the experts to refine their views as the group’s work progresses in accordance with the assigned task.

• It is believed that the range of responses by the panellists will presumably decrease and converge toward the “best” response. The value of the Delphi method rests with the ideas it generates, both those that evoke consensus and those that do not.

The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of The Effectiveness of E-Participation in the Development of Public Policies. A Delphi StudyPublic Policies. A Delphi Study

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The Delphi method

• We are interviewing 15 experts from each country, who are in charge of climate saving policy / programmes on behalf of the municipality and other relevant organizations (agenda 21 office, consumer organization, climate change agency, power utility etc.)

• Because the number of respondents is usually small -Brockhoff (1975) suggests that, under ideal circumstances, groups as small as four can perform well- Delphi does not (and are not intended to) produce statistically significant results.

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Structure of the study: • Our questionnaire is a combinationcombination of an expert survey with a Delphi partexpert survey with a Delphi part. • The combined expert survey with Delphi is being carried out at the beginningat the beginning of

2011 and will be repeated at the endat the end of the project, in order to see whether experiences made with the citizen-panel has led to changes in the attitudes / changes in the attitudes / viewsviews of the experts concerning citizen participation in the climate saving topic.

• The composition of the combined expert survey with Delphi is as follows:A. Expert survey partExperience in citizen participation in climate saving (to be asked once at the beginning of the project)

B. Delphi partExpectations on citizen participation in future in particular by use of citizen panels on climate saving

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Benefits of citizen participation in CS for public administration and citizens

Characteristics of panelists

Satisfaction with participation activities (objective)

Experience in citizen participation online

Personal satisfaction with participation activities

Success factors Barriers from PA view

Barriers from citizen view

If lack of interest by citizen is marked, then..

Rather YES.. Rather NO..

Offline

Online

Offline

Online

Comparison online - offline participation

DELPHI

Experience in citizen participation

Experience in climate change or environmental protection

YES.. NO.. General questions….

Other success factors

YES..

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The Delphi Questionnaire

• Delphi Questionnaire.doc

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Discussion / Conclusions:

• In countries studied, participation initiatives started in the second half of 90s the second half of 90s concurrentlyconcurrently with the publication of feedback studies about NPM reforms feedback studies about NPM reforms and the warnings of academics warnings of academics about the doubtful benefits of some NPM reforms and the decline of public trust in governments derived from such reforms.

• The general level of satisfaction with previous initiatives is high around 75%around 75%

• The experts do not find and do not expect do not expect noticeable differencesdifferences between online online and offlineand offline participants.

• About one of the key research questions 'what can be expected from citizen 'what can be expected from citizen participation programs’participation programs’, for the experts, most outstanding benefits from previous participation programs have been the increment of citizen attention increment of citizen attention on climate-change effects and the enhance of transparency of the local governmentenhance of transparency of the local government, together with the contribution to testing new modes of governancecontribution to testing new modes of governance

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Discussion / Conclusions:

• It seems that local governments are more interested in implementing citizen more interested in implementing citizen participation initiatives than in achieving the specific objectives participation initiatives than in achieving the specific objectives of that participation, since almost half of them do not evaluate the results.

• The experts do not report differences between onliners and offliners in age, gender, income and political orientation. Only report differences in education Only report differences in education

• There are concerns about the representativeness concerns about the representativeness of results, given that participants may have higher or special motivation higher or special motivation or interest in the topic than the average of the population, or may be more politically active.

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Discussion / Conclusions:

• The evidence collected gives answer to some research questions underlying in the academic literature about e-participation, whether:

• 1) online tools could offer more opportunities for participation; • 2) allow for a greater range of participants; and • 3) facilitates ‘better’ participation. • The answer to these three questions seems to be negative or at least doubtfulnegative or at least doubtful.

• The results say that the use of technology is only an enabler technology is only an enabler but it is not the solution for the engagement of citizens in participation processes

• The answers reveal a positive view and a high degree of expectations positive view and a high degree of expectations about the role that citizen panels can play as a tool to conduct citizen participation in environmental programs

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Thank you very much for your attention!