In Bolivia, small farmers economic organisations (organizaviones ecόnomicas campesinas – OECs) are increasingly being talked about as actors that could play a key role in channelling proposals and programmes for sustainable agriculture, in the context of market liberalisation and globalisation.

This critical essay identifies important structural changes needed to enable widespread democratic participation and sustainable development. The author argues for the construction of a new modernity in which the centrality of waged work would be greatly diminished. Civilising globalisation implies not only a re-localisation of the economy but also the fostering of a variety of social bonds outside the market, of alternative social practices in order to diminish the importance of the wage relationship and create new production and consumption models. The best strategy for moving beyond the wage-based society lies in a synergy between three types of measure - a reduction of working hours, a guaranteed income, and the development of alternative activities to wage labour and of practices of a composite economy. The author also justifies the shift from an emphasis on reduced working time to one of material security, with or without a job. Different forms of guaranteed income or material security have pride of place in this strategy because they help prioritise activities which have an intrinsic value, therefore narrowing the sphere of economic value creation.

This Discussion Paper seeks to identify the forms of economic organisation that might best support the institutionalisation of participation and people centred processes in environment and development. Written in a non academic and accessible style, the paper renews with traditions of political and economic philosophy that propose ethical norms to guide social relations and the organisation of economic life.

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Are rural Africans gaining more control over how their land relations and their land use decisions are decided? Is their access and input to institutions that manage and regulate these matters improving? Is it cheaper and easier to have land interests and transactions recorded, and what kind of rights do these institutions recognise? These are the kind of questions that this review of decentralising administration and management in sub-Saharan Africa seeks to answer. To do so, it closely examines the founding policy and legal texts guiding change in around twenty countries in East, West, and Southern Africa. Special attention is paid to where institutions and systems are being established, into whose hands and with what functions and powers. The extent to which these arrangements are accompanied by improving acknowledgement of historically vulnerable land interests is closely examined.

This report presents the background and rationale for the IIED-IDS action research project on institutionalising participatory approaches and people-centered processes in natural resource management. The methodologies used in the different case studies, primarily in India, Indonesia, Senegal, and Mexico, are introduced with complementary studies undertaken in this collaborative research programme. It also contains highlights and summaries of all the publications in the Institutionalising Participation Series.

Depuis près de 15 ans, la coopération danoise s’est investie dans le secteur de l’approvisionnement en bois-énergie au Niger, d’abord par l’intermédiaire de la Banque Mondiale (Projet Energie II, 1989-1998), puis sur une base bilatérale, avec le projet Energie Domestique (2000-2003). L’ensemble de ces interventions a contribué à l’émergence d’une « Stratégie Energie Domestique » pour le Niger. Cette stratégie s’appuie sur des textes législatifs promulgués par l’Etat dans le but de favoriser une gestion décentralisée du combustible ligneux et de la fiscalité qui s’y rattache.L’étude dresse un bilan général avec le but de le partager avec d’autres intervenants dans le secteur de la GRN au Sahel, voire ailleurs. En effet, les résultats prometteurs de la formule des marchés ruraux au Niger ont inspiré d’autres pays de la sous-région (Mali, Tchad, Burkina Faso) et au delà (Madagascar. Mozambique). Ce bilan contribue aussi à consolider les acquis de la Stratégie Energie Domestique (SED) au Niger.

This paper draws out lessons from gender mainstreaming work for those who seek to institutionalise participation. The author begins by discussing the shift from Women in Development (WID) to Gender and Development (GAD) and the conceptual frameworks which contributed to this process. The strategies used to mainstream gender, the achievements and the challenges are then examined. This is followed by a discussion of the shifts from participation per se to governance, suggesting that the shift from ‘women in development’ to ‘gender and development’ is mirrored by a shift from ‘participation’ to ‘governance’, with a greater focus in both on a relational perspective, policy processes and institutions. The tensions between gender mainstreaming and participatory development are explored and ways of bridging the gaps between ‘gender’ and ‘participation’ are suggested. The author argues that renewed alliances with emerging movements and more critical perspectives are required to prevent the cooption of visions and weakening of values which underpin efforts to mainstream both a gender perspective and participatory approaches to development and social change.

Between 1996 and 2000 the Mexican ministry of environment, natural resources and fisheries developed and implemented an innovative programme for regional sustainable development (Proders).  This programme was designed as the anchor point for Mexico’s sustainable development policy, and was founded on the principles of participation, decentralisation and integrated development. While Proders encountered many challenges, and in many ways failed to live up to expectations, the experience raises some interesting lessons about implementing a national public policy of sustainable development and participation:

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