Training Module on
Community Mobilization for Citizen Participation
June -2015
Supported under
Comprehensive Capacity Building
Programme (CCBP)
Ministry of Urban Development
Government of India
Prepared by: Social development Team
Module Preparation Team:
1. Team Leader
T.PandurangaRao
2. Editorial Advise,Guidance and Review
Venkateswar Reddy
L.VenkateswarRao
Narmada
DemuduBabu
SrinivasaRao
3. Content Contributions:
VSN Murthy
Prasad
Ramadevi
Naga Raju
Outline of the Module
Component DESCRIPTION
Background The 74th
constitution Amendment Act aims at grassroots democracy with
civic services government being delivered to the people near their door steps
with the citizen participation. As per this act Community Mobilization for
citizen participation is needed for improving the quality of the services
provided by the municipalities. For effective community participation,
mobilization methods & technics and involvement of community based
organizations are important in this process. Community based organizations
have priority role in the community mobilization for getting the quality
service from the municipality.
Intended
Audience(s)
Town Level Federation (TLF) & Slum Level Federation (SLF) Office
Bearers (OBs) and TLF & SLF Resource Persons (RPs)
Learning
Objectives
On completion of the training, the participants will be able to:
Define community & Community Mobilization
Describe the need for Citizen Participation, its scope and advantage
Explain methods and technics for Mobilization of community for
Participation and participation levels
Module
Overview
This module covers Community Mobilization process, Scope and
advantages with citizen participation and process and techniques of
mobilizing community for participation.
Module delivery
outline
Awareness:
Defining Community
Community mobilization
Citizen Participation
Knowledge:
Scope and advantage of Citizen Participation
Skills:
Techniques for mobilizing community for participation
Process mobilizing Citizens for participation
Module activities (Methods of teaching)
Lecture / Input session
Small Group Discussion
Field visits
Power point presentation.
Supporting
materials
Reading Material in the form of hand outs
Training toolkit
Power point presentation
Module Developer National Institute of Urban Management
1 Defining Community..................................................................................................... 1
2 Community Mobilization ............................................................................................. 1
3 Citizen Participation ...................................................................................................... 1
3.1 What it is. .................................................................................................................... 1
3.2 Why Citizen Participation .......................................................................................... 1
3.3 Scope and Advantages ................................................................................................. 2
3.4 Participation as an integral part of ULB .................................................................... 3
3.5 Citizens Representation: ............................................................................................. 3
3.6 Process of enhancing the participation........................................................................ 4
3.7 Levels of Participation ................................................................................................. 4
3.8 Process mobilizing Citizens for participation ............................................................. 5
3.9 Techniques for mobilizing community for participation ............................................ 6
3.9.1 Techniques ............................................................................................................. 6
4 Citizen Involvement in the Policy Development Process ...................................... 9
Summary of the Module ..................................................................................................... 10
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1 Defining Community
Community can be defined as
• Individuals or groups who share a common geographic location;
• Individuals or groups who have common language, culture or values;
• How the groups or individuals interact or have relationships with each other; and
• How members of the community use common resources and make decisions.
2 Community Mobilization
Community mobilization is a process through which local individuals, groups or
organizations identify needs and plan, carry out and evaluate activities on a participatory and
on-going basis to improve their lives.
The Asia Foundation (2008) provides a similar definition and aim stating that the ―objective
of social mobilization is to create a process to mobilize hidden democratic elements and
potentials for good governance, resources, self-help initiatives and joint efforts for trusted
partnership-building‖ (p.20). With their definition it is noted that the concept of social
mobilization would cover mobilization all groups as well as all stakeholder in the community,
strengthening of institutions.
3 Citizen Participation
3.1 What it is.
The term participation means taking part in joint activities for the purpose of reaching a
common goal. This encompasses both trivial and important situations in which participation
mainly has a technical meaning, ‖doing things together‖.
The activity of participation is based on the principle that the built and natural environments
work better if citizens are active and involved in its creation and management instead of
being treated as passive consumers.
3.2 Why Citizen Participation
Citizen participation is essential for making democratic processes effective and for
strengthening them. It provides a platform to citizens to influence policy/program
development and implementation. While various platforms and systems for citizen’s
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participation have developed organically there is a need to institutionalize them to make them
effective and sustainablei.
3.3 Scope and Advantages
The Community Participation Law aims to institutionalize community participation
platforms/systems (ward sabhas). If implemented in its true spirit it will have the following
advantages:
It will help deepen democracy, facilitate efficiency and sustained socio-economic
growth and promote pro-poor initiatives.
It will help in improving urban governance and service delivery.
It will promote transparency and accountability in governance.
It will improve the quality of the decisions made, as these would be based on
knowledge of local realities and requirements.
It has significance for regional planning structures like the District Planning
Committee (DPC) and the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) both of which
require citizen participation in planning from the grassroots.
Citizens will have a say in determining how information is shared, policies are set,
resources are used and plans/programs are implemented.
Participation activities may be motivated from an administrative perspective or a citizen
perspective on a governmental, corporate or social level. From the administrative viewpoint,
participation can build public support for activities. It can educate the public about various
activities of the local bodies. It can also facilitate useful information exchange regarding local
conditions. Furthermore, participation is often legally mandated. From the citizen viewpoint,
participation enables individuals and groups to influence ULB decisions. The participation
can influence the relation between citizen and their local government like increases in trust,
boosts peoples willingness, getting idea from all sectors of the community etc.
According to the theory of social capital, the incorporation of citizens into public affairs
strengthens the social capital, because the citizens are involved in the adoption and
implementation of new relevant decisions, which will directly influence the community.
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Factors that are important for effective participation at the local level can be distinguished:
Urban structure,
Types of participants,
Participation instruments (methods), and
Participation process.
3.4 Participation as an integral part of ULB
Local government has to be interested not only to improve its performance, cost budgeting,
but also to maintain public confidence in the implementation of citizen expectations.
However, the efforts to improve the quality of public services often lack systematic approach.
In this case, citizens are unused resources to improve service delivery. Narrow understanding
of citizen participation limits the possibilities to use neighbourhood groups as a basis for
community formation.
3.5 Citizens Representation:
Who should participate,
Who will select the participants,
What are the criteria for the participants to be selected and
Why do citizens participate?
Traditionally, the representatives of government of the city, mayors, municipal council or an
administrator invite citizens to participate. Invitation can be various: open participation to
everyone, who wants to devote his time and is interested in the problems; direct invitation
(for example by dividing the flyers, posters, advertisements, etc.) to the special meetings; the
geographical representation of urban areas, according to demographic criteria for the
selection and targeted invitation of traditionally active participants, based on experience. In
the public service decision-making case, all four possible strategies are possible for the
invitation, but for the provision and the development of public services the first two are the
most relevant techniques. It is also important, why the citizens decide to participate.
On the one hand, the positive reasons are distinguished as a sense of civic responsibilities,
interest in public affairs, etc. On the other hand, the negative reasons are dissatisfaction with
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the current situation, the desire to influence the decisions that are made without the
participation of those actors, who will be directly influenced by these decisions, etc.
It may be noted that the assumptions for effective participation occurs when: citizens are
invited to participate by government or leaders of other responsible organization, i.e. when a
two-way communication is initiated; when everybody, who wishes, can participate and when
the possibility of representation is guaranteed for interests of all citizens; and when the
participants can be involved in decision-making or service provision process, from the
consideration of proposals to the final decision-making in all stages.
3.6 Process of enhancing the participation
Participation can take a number of forms. At one end of the spectrum is ―passive
participation‖ in which community members participate by being informed about something
that will happen or has already happened. At the other end of the spectrum is ―self-
mobilization‖, when communities organize and take initiative independent of any external
actors. There are various level of participation as mentioned below.
With community mobilization, participation is about meeting the interests of the whole
community. When every member of a community has the chance, directly or through
representation, to participate in the design, implementation and monitoring of community-
level initiatives.
The approach takes into consideration the different experiences, needs and capabilities of
various groups in a community – women and men, youth and the elderly, persons with
disabilities and the able bodied, ethnic/religious/language minorities and majorities.
3.7 Levels of Participation
Interactive Participation
Functional Participation
Participation for Material Incentives
Participation by Consultation
Participation in Information Giving
Passive Participation
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3.8 Process mobilizing Citizens for participation
The citizen participation process is designed and implemented in four discreet stages, as
outlined below.
1. Preliminary Design
a) Situation analysis.
b) Decision process.
c) Information exchange.
2. Developing the Plan
a) Identify and address major issues.
b) Identify and involve the stakeholders.
c) Choose techniques.
d) Prepare to provide and receive information.
e) Budget, staff, resources, logistics, roles and responsibilities.
f) Prepare to give and get feedback.
3. Implementation
(a) Follow the critical path.
(b) Apply techniques.
(c) Provide and receive information.
(d) Monitor the process.
4. Feedback
(a) Report to decision makers.
(b) Report to participants.
c) Evaluate the overall process.
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3.9 Techniques for mobilizing community for participation
A number of emerging community mobilization techniques provide the opportunity for
involvement of citizens, which has been difficult to achieve with traditional techniques. This
section provides an overview of both traditional and emerging techniques.
The techniques include print publications, public meetings, open houses, advisory
Committees, workshops, bilateral meetings, and focus groups. Emerging techniques include
open space technology, future search conferences, policy dialogue, and a suite of electronic
techniques. In general, emerging techniques offer more in-depth opportunities for dialogue
and collaboration, with emphasis on value exploration and reaching consensus on shared
outcomes in complex situations.
It should be noted that public servants and community groups have numerous opportunities to
interact with each other, exchange information and gain a better understanding of each
other’s views and interests. All consultation and engagement activities are not necessarily
formal. The details of techniques are as follows
3.9.1 Techniques
The following are simple descriptions intended to provide an overview of the types of
techniques available:
i. Publications and Public meeting: All consultations produce some type of
published material, which may describe the process, define the problem, issue or
situation; suggest options; or request direct feedback from readers on their views,
interests or alternatives. Sessions open to anyone with an interest in the subject of
the consultation are publicized and held. Public meetings often begin with a
technical overview of the situation and process, then provide opportunity for
members of the public to speak from the floor regarding their concerns or to ask
questions of expert panellists.
ii. Open house: An open house usually communicates information about a project or
proposal through a series of displays. Staff are present to answer questions and
provide clarification. Visitors are asked to register their views before leaving.
Information hand outs can be available.
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iii. Advisory committee/task force: Groups are selected to represent a cross-section
of interests, and may be asked to prioritize, review, make recommendations,
develop alternatives, evaluate, assist, etc. Advisory groups tend to be long-term,
whereas a task force has a short time horizon.
iv. Workshops: Stakeholders are invited to attend a meeting to review information,
define issues, solve problems or plan reviews. Generally, workshops are expected
to educate participants and solve a problem or develop a product such as an action
plan. Most workshops use facilitation.
v. Target briefings: These are designed to reach specific audiences who may
benefit from private and individually tailored presentations. Audiences for
targeted briefings could include ministers, municipal officials, media or specific
interest groups.
vi. Focus groups discussion: Groups of eight or ten people are structured to
represent a cross-section of the stakeholders affected by an issue. A moderator
leads a discussion of the facts, exploring participants’ feelings, values, interests,
concerns, etc.
vii. Bilateral meetings: The sponsoring agency meets directly with stakeholder
groups to receive feedback or discuss areas of interest. This can be useful if the
issue under discussion is accompanied by a high level of conflict.
viii. Toll-free phone line: This provides an impersonal opportunity for the public to
give feedback, provide ideas or identify issues. The phone can be answered by a
staff member who discusses the issue directly with the caller, or by a taped
message and opportunity to record comments.
ix. Surveys: Surveys are used to collect information, solicit opinions and build a
profile of the groups and individuals involved. They provide information to the
public and help focus public attention on specific issues. Individual discussions
with the public or representatives of interest groups may allow participants to
cover a wider range of information than is solicited on a questionnaire, and thus
perhaps to identify new issues or concerns not previously considered
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x. Public hearings: A public hearing is a forum at which stakeholders can make
formal Statements about the issue at hand. Oral statements are often accompanied
by written briefs. A panel representing the sponsoring agency may ask questions
of the presenter. The panel generally submits a final report with findings and
recommendations. Below are brief descriptions of emerging techniques;
xi. Open space technology, uses plenary circles (i.e., participants sit in a circle) and
has a few, simple rules. Breakout sessions are organized, led and reported on by
self-selected participants. This technique can maximize the creativity, energy,
vision and leadership of all participants, and is egalitarian and inclusive. It can be
used to set strategic direction, plan or initiate a project, and develop standards,
criteria or regulations. It has the ability to maximize teamwork.
xii. Future search conferences, are workshop conferences at which 40-80 people
join forces to visualize a desired future and then design the steps needed to get the
organization there. This technique uses a whole system approach and places
emphasis on self-managed, small group discussions. It can be used when the
solution to an issue or problem resolution may require a change in organizational
mission, functions or structure.
xiii. E-participation, includes a wide range of specific individual techniques,
including e-mail, provision of Web site information, bulletin boards, chat and
news groups, dialogue groups and virtual communities. These low-cost
approaches are only available to those who have access to a computer and are
useful when the policy community is spread over a broad geographic area, or
where open information-sharing is important.
xiv. Appreciative inquiry focuses on the positive aspects of a situation, opportunities,
strengths, proven capacities and skills, resources — and affirms, appreciates and
builds on existing strengths. Appreciate inquiry is a very effective way to get
people to think about their demonstrated abilities instead of listing and dwelling
on problems or challenges
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4 Citizen Involvement in the Policy Development Process
For the policy development process, how we can involve citizens? What factors will we
consider? What techniques might be effective?
1. Problem definition
2. Value/goal clarification
3. Option generation
4. Selection
5. Implementation
6. Evaluation
• The issue of citizen participation has gradually gained importance since the end of the
1960s.
• Various forms of participation that might improve the quality of democracy have been
discussed in recent years. These include participation through constitutional reforms,
the use of ICTs in politics and policy-making, and interactive policy-making. In
general, the existing political institutions and the traditional hierarchical way of
policy-making are not criticized.
• Citizen participation is mainly seen as an instrument to strengthen and support the
way Representative democracy is functioning now.
• The local or national government should take and keep the initiative in policy-
making.
Initiatives ought to be taken from above. The process of involving citizens in politics and
policymaking should not lead to the erosion of the primacy of the representative institutions.
The central focus of thought is not on citizens, but on the government.
• The role of participation is mainly an instrumental one. That is, its main objective is
to give citizens and their organizations a say in the official political process.
Participation is not regarded as a value in itself, but is merely aimed at producing a
government.
• Participation has no other functions.
• Massive participation is undesirable and could even be dangerous. Though this is the
dominant view, some authors (academics in particular), point to different, more
expressive elements of participation and consider citizen participation as essential to
democracy.
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Summary of the Module
This module on Community Mobilization for Citizen Participation gives
greater understanding of importance of community mobilization for citizen
participation in ULB. This module covers Community Mobilization process,
Scope and advantages with citizen participation and process and various
techniques of mobilizing community for participation. This will be of good use
to the participants in realizing need for community mobilization for citizen
participation and processes involved in mobilizing the community