It is not often that a single publication sparks a storm of international controversy and debate in any field. But that is precisely what happened after members of a team from India and the UK published and distributed the report of their scenario workshop and citizen jury experiment - Prajateerpu - in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Following this, in 2002 IIED hosted an e-forum, specifically to discuss issues surrounding the use of participatory approaches to inform and influence policy from below. The discussions focused on four thematic areas:
- issues of evidence
- issues of representation
- issues of engagement
- issues of accountability.
Whilst the majority agree that the Prajateerpu exercise was an innovative attempt to develop and extend methodologies for participation in policy making, the emerging challenge now is how to continue helping poor and marginalized people to engage in policy processes in the future.
This special issue includes all contributions to the e-forum, provides an overview of the Prajateerpu citizen jury and scenario workshop and its outcome, and draws important conclusions for anyone engaged in participatory processes for policy change.
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