Participatory Decision Making

Most risk management activity in the healthcare sector is retrospective, based on learning from experience. This is feasible where the risks are routine, but emergency operations plans (EOP) guide the response to events that are both high risk and rare. Under these circumstances, it is important to get the response right the first time, but learning from experience is usually not an option. This case study presents the rationale for taking a proactive approach to improving healthcare organizations' EOP. It demonstrates how the Prospective Hazard Analysis (PHA) Toolkit can drive organizational learning and argues that this toolkit may lead to more efficient improvement than drills and exercises.

-----
Wiley's copyright policies do not allow me to post the published version of the paper, but they do allow me to send out individual copies. So if you don't have access to the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management and would like a copy of this article, please email me at:
alan [dot] j [dot] card [at] gmail [dot] com

The focus of this exploratory research is how cultural networks are managed, what characterizes their management style - assumingly less hierarchical and more participatory, what values this style promotes and what is the motivation of managers to take part in it. As a case study, Cultural Innovators Network (CIN) is addressed, as an independent network existing since 2012 and operating in the Mediterranean region.

While researchers have noted that networks have become increasingly present in our societies thanks to process of globalization and technological developments, this work is focusing less on networks as social systems, rather as an organizational model. Furthermore, in literature concerning cultural networks, little has been said about why cultural managers decide to implement non-hierarchical types of management and foster various participatory approaches and values. Therefore, this research takes into account internal group dynamics - among the managers of CIN and between them and the network’s members, in understanding the underlying values, motivations, procedures, interactions, as well as mapping key challenges of running such a network. The idea is to ground management and participatory
ideals into a given context and understand better their implementation. In the case of CIN, it was also important to relate its foundation to a specific geopolitical context - the Arab Spring and cultural diplomacy activities of the Goethe-Institut in the Mediterranean region.

Among the main motivations for cultural managers to take part in the network’s operations were noted constructive and proactive approaches, professional growth, networking, and belief in a similar set of values such as cultural diversity, democracy, experiment and innovation. The use of non-hierarchical management and participatory approaches are seen as ways how to achieve these values and ideals. While the management in this setting becomes more decentralized and shared, focusing on tasks rather than hierarchies, wider participation of network members requires clear ground rules, self-motivation, and often more time for decision-making. Lastly, key challenges and observations are provided in order to offer a constructive feedback and discuss more efficient way of managing a cultural network in a more participatory manner.

Community mapping is being increasingly used to support crowdsourcing in participatory decision-making processes but the collection of feed-back is usually carried out in textual form. We describe a proposal for the management of 3D Community Maps which provide a virtual representation of the territory and enable users to contribute to policy making by sharing different types of contributions, such as comments, documents and 3D models. The paper discusses user requirements and personalization aspects in this type of application

UN bodies have increasingly emphasized the need to improve the political participation of indigenous peoples. This book proposes a composite right to political participation of indigenous peoples, identifies its recognition in international law, and explores its application in two – apparently divergent but substantially more similar than expected – case studies in Latin America: Bolivia and Chile. The core sources of international law, including the decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, serve as the main sources for the recognition of this right. This analysis ultimately integrates the non-(strictly)-legally binding outcomes of international organizations, the writings of publicists, and the scholarly literature of other disciplines (political science, sociology, and anthropology).
For the two case studies, it covers a period of approximately ten years (2005-2015), and assesses the national legislation and their implementation, as well as the domestic jurisprudence.

This article argues that, while emergencies and disasters are distressing for most people and may result in mental disorders for a substantial minority of affected persons at some time in the following months and years, there are personal and collective sources of psychosocial resilience. The concepts, bases, and practical potential of resilience have been explored for more than 40 years. However, studies of pathology, which emphasizes people’s vulnerability over their adaptive capacities, have predominated. The nature and basis of personal psychosocial
resilience are outlined, and a new approach to collective resilience that has been developed through recent research on crowd psychology is described. The article concludes with some implications for managing disasters and practice, including the suggestion that crowds be treated as part of the solution rather than part of the problem in mass emergencies and disasters.

This paper reviews the current Corona virus situation, then examines the legal definitions of negligence and fiduciary duty in an attempt to determine whether closing a university because of health concerns over the Corona virus might result in legal liability for the university's board members and relevant university administrators.

El propósito de este boletín es identificar los elementos que tienen mayor efecto positivo en el ejercicio de presupuesto participativo en el ámbito local en Jalisco, así como sus principales oportunidades y restricciones. Se estudian los casos de dos municipios no metropolitanos: Acatlán de Juárez y Etzatlán. Se abordan como los factores centrales: la confianza pública, la eficacia y la apertura gubernamentales, el entorno presupuestal y financiero municipal, así como la participación
y la organización ciudadanas. Se concluye que los presupuestos participativos son un mecanismo efectivo para recobrar la confianza en el

gobierno, siempre y cuando éste canalice la participación ciudadana de manera profesional, abierta e incluyente. Finalmente, se ofrece una serie de recomendaciones de política pública, tales como incrementar la recaudación local con el compromiso de que los recursos extra sean sometidos a un proceso de presupuesto participativo, fomentar la educación cívica como mecanismo de construcción de ciudadanía e impulsar una reforma amplia de la administración pública enfocada en fortalecer las capacidades tanto técnicas como éticas de los funcionarios públicos.

Critical incidents often result in amplified social solidarity among the members of a traumatized community. Some argue this solidarity accelerates recovery and supportive social environments decrease the likelihood of PTSD and other health problems after traumatic events. However, little research investigates if social solidarity influences wellbeing independent from the social support that accompanies heightened solidarity. That is, does feeling attached to a group protect one from negative events even if social support ...

The topic of ‘how mega transport projects should be assessed’ continues to generate disputes amongst academics, infrastructure specialists, investors and governments alike. This Ph.D. research sought to explore the applicability of participatory MCA methodologies to the (economic, environmental and social) appraisal of such projects. Although very popular amongst academics, participatory MCA techniques seem to have enjoyed limited practical application and there are no studies assessing their effectiveness. This research entailed several steps, where different methods of investigation and multiple sources of information, both primary and secondary, were combined together in an effort to increase the reliability of the results. Firstly, a comprehensive review of the literature, whose findings were validated and integrated by means of an expert focus group interview, was undertaken in the attempt to determine the key features of mega transport projects. An investigation into transport appraisal practice and traditional appraisal methodologies was then carried out through a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature, complemented with unstructured interviews and informal discussions with some international experts. Successively, an examination of over 60 publications on participatory MCA methodologies was performed with the objective of determining the main attributes and critical aspects of such methods. An analysis of the current trends in mega transport infrastructure planning and decision-making practice was also undertaken based on a series of interviews with several infrastructure practitioners and the analysis of three large-scale port and port-related projects, namely the Alameda freight rail corridor (US), the expansion of the Port of Rotterdam (Holland) and the London Gateway port complex (UK). The London Gateway port complex was also adopted as case study for a practical application of participatory MCA methodologies. Overall, the outcomes of this multi-actor multi-criteria appraisal exercise, together with the findings from the previous steps of research, led to the identification of several (methodological and non-methodological) issues potentially surrounding the practical application of such methods. These issues were ultimately explored through a survey questionnaire carried out amongst specialists and proponents of participatory techniques. The overall conclusion of the thesis is that participatory MCA methodologies represent an under-researched area, where some critical themes have received limited consideration; contrasting views still exist on many fundamental aspects; and where, in many cases, the disconnection between theory and practice is apparent. In particular, the key principles, steps and structure of such methods are (directly or indirectly) based on the rational-comprehensive planning model, which hardly reflects the way projects are developed. Therefore, while, in principle, multi-actor multi-criteria procedures might be carried out to complement and integrate the information derived from conventional ex-ante analyses, it is difficult to see how such methods could significantly improve the decision-making process of major transport infrastructure.

This paper introduces student leadership and internal accountability mechanisms at a government primary school in Ethiopia. The network system (also known as 'one to five') is a means of sharing responsibility with students for supporting the academic learning, and regulating the behaviour, of their peers. Another practice, gim gima, is a forum for public critique, whereby students, teachers and others in the school community evaluate the conduct of their peers and leaders, with a view to identifying misconduct, learning from mistakes, and making future improvements. This paper draws from ethnographic research undertaken for my PhD research.

Traditional PD research offers a range of methods for participant engagement. Yet little is shared of the microdynamics of participation at its most intense, when the designer as facilitator is challenged by a range of social contingencies. Engaging people in change can be a messy process, especially when emotions run high. This paper explores two situations where communities were asked

The adoption of systems-focused risk assessment techniques has not led to measurable improvement in the rate of patient harm. Why? In part, because these tools focus solely on understanding problems, and provide no direct support for designing and managing solutions (i.e., risk control). This second installment of a 2-part series on rebalancing risk management describes a structured approach to bridging this gap: The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit. A pilot study is presented to show how ARC Toolkit can improve the quality of risk management practice.

"Author(s): Manuel Suter

Series: Risk and Resilience Reports

Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich

Date: 2012/09/25

Publication Year: 2012

This focal report analyzes the relationship between resilience and risk management, which is the predominant methodology of protection policies. It is argued that there are three main conceptualizations of the risk-resilience relationship in the theoretical literature and in CIP-policy documents: resilience as the goal of risk management, resilience as part of risk management and resilience as alternative to risk management. The report describes the historical and theoretical background of each of these three conceptualizations, provides empirical examples, and outlines the practical relevance of the different perspectives. A final part describes how the Swiss Basic Strategy to CIP describes resilience and gives recommendations which of the risk-resilience conceptualizations fit best to the Swiss approach to CIP."

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (b) one cannot generalize from a single case, therefore, the single-case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (c) the case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (d) the case study contains a bias toward verification; and (e) it is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. This article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of a greater number of good case studies.

What does it take to safeguard a country like Switzerland? Is it a high-tech army capable of deterring a potential external aggressor on land, in air, and in cyberspace? Is it a proficient border screening system whose agents, databases, and sensors form an integrated whole to effectively spot and sort out who is to be allowed in and who isn’t? Or is it an informed and rule-based internal policing system, intelligence service, and judiciary that prevent and repress wrongdoing, keeping everyday life peaceful and nonviolent? On the outside, the security domain exudes certainty - but seen from the inside, national security systems are considerably less certain than they appear.

Brazil and Canada, countries with large territories and with a minority Indigenous population scattered throughout the land have developed distinct ways to address such claims. Started in 1973, the Canadian public policy towards land claims recognition was reviewed in 1985 after a consultative process including Native groups from all over the country. This process was successful in changing some key aspects of the policy, leading to the design of the contemporary Comprehensive Land Claims Policy. The modern Brazilian policy to address native land claims was regulated in the early 1990’s. In 2016, Indigenous groups were called to participate in the 1º National Public Policy Conference on Indigenous Policy. However, this participatory institution was not able to change the current demarcation policy.  To explain this variation in the observed policy change, we carried out case studies using both quantitative and qualitative data. To provide a contextual analysis of the participatory institutions, we suggest that not only the design of the participatory institutions should be taken in account, but also broader factors such as: 1. Constitutional provisions; 2. The role of the provinces and states; 3. The government agenda during the periods under investigation and; 4. The Indigenous political mobilization and civil society associations. Documental data and 12 interviews collected with key actors in both countries were used as analysis material. We concluded that, in the Canadian case, the virtuous interplay between the participatory institutional design, the incentives for change provided by the recently enacted constitution, the cooperative role of the provinces and the absence of concerted bureaucratic and political opposition provided the political environment which allowed policy change. In the Brazilian case, on the other hand, the internal undermining of the Conference by the government, its lack of political centrality and the presence of strong political interference of economic sectors organized in the Congress without the mediation of the head of the executive provided a political landscape where policy changes proposed by Indigenous peoples became unlikely. In both cases, the variable “Native collective agency” seemed to play no important role in the observed outcomes.

The empirical findings presented in this paper are for the participatory approaches in sustainable land use planning. The value of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), sketch and photo-mapping approaches aided by Geographical Information System (GIS) technology is emphasised. Various participants in Hardap region and experts associated with the Land Use Planning (LUP) development in that region provided their insightful knowledges, experiences and opinions on the value of participatory approaches aided by GIS technology in LUP. Combinations of research approaches were applied; these are literature review, the SWOT, sketch and photo mapping. Both positive and negative impacts of the approaches in evaluating the outcomes of the participatory mapping aided by GIS technology were gathered and the results were verified. The research established that the importance, the strengths and opportunities of participatory approaches in LUP are used in Namibia. There is however still a lack of knowledge on participatory methods to support land management programmes in Namibia. Key recommendations include awareness programme and intense studies on the potential value of participatory methods in LUP.

That talk is never disinterested complicates the relationship between the environment and the claims people make about it. Talk about place, and one's self in it, is particularly complex when the environment poses risk or is otherwise problematized. This study, a secondary analysis of interview data, seeks to extend discursive work on place-identity by examining the ways in which 14 residents of a small English village talk about themselves and their locale. The locale accommodates an active quarry, and many residents had lodged complaints to the quarry about dust, noise and vibrations from blasting. Attention to the interactional context of the interviews illustrates the ways in which (simply) interviewing people about their locale can threaten self- and place-identity. When asked about life in the village, interviewees oriented to two main dilemmas in protecting self- and place-identity: (1) how to justify continued residence in a challenging environment and (2) how to complain about the locale whilst maintaining positive place-identity. Discursive responses to these dilemmas drew upon typical identity processes, such as self- and place distinctiveness and the formulation of out-groups, as well as upon constructions of localized power-sharing and morally obligated tolerance of risk. We suggest that research on problematical places, and of environmental risk, needs to be sensitized to how it may constitute a threat to self- and place-identity, and how this may mediate formulations self and place, as well as of environmental risk.

CBA is a system for basing decisions on the importance of beneficial differences (i.e. advantages) between alternatives.  It has key definitions, models, principles and a set of methods.


Good decisions matter because they lead to effective actions that produce desired results. That’s why the method you use to make decisions matters.

Choosing By Advantages (CBA) enables decision makers to concentrate on what is important: the advantages (beneficial differences) that each alternative could deliver to stakeholders and basing the decision on the total importance of those advantages.  By focusing on advantages for the customer/end user of the project CBA connects decision makers with their clients’ ideas about what they want.  Involving constructors ensures that build-ability is considered.

Urban planning and design play a central role in determining the quality of the built environment and the ways families with children can access and use public space. However, there remains an ongoing need to clarify children's involvement in planning. This paper carries out a systematic literature review of 30 studies published between 1990-2017 in order to address and review the current state of the art of participatory approaches in urban planning to create child-focused urban environments. This systematic review resulted in (1) a comprehensive, quantitative picture of the current studies focusing on the participation of children; (2) an effective way to conceptualize children in planning; (3) a list of requirements for the successful practice of planning with children and its relation to sustainable communities; (4) discussion of the link between urban planning, methods, approaches, and outcomes for child-focused urban environments; (5) identification of existing gaps in the literature; and (6) examination of the role of policies and the link between policies, urban planning, methods, and approaches for further research.

"This study addresses the life of indigenous people in a village community on Sumba, an island of Eastern Indonesia that is particularly prone to natural disasters. Over the past two decades the people of Sumba have experienced problems such as locust pest/Locusta Migratoria Manilensis  (1998-2005),  Tai  Kabala  grass/Chromolina odorata (2006), whirlwind (2007), earthquakes (2007 and 2009), famine (2007), and barrenness or drought (every year). Wunga  village,  deemed  to  be  the  place  the  Sumbanese  ancestors  arrived  at  when  they  first  came  to Sumba, was also affected by the disasters mentioned, and was hit especially hard.

By using an ethno-ecology approach, the  present  research  found  that Wunga  people, of whom 85,4% follow Marapu  (the  local  religion  in Sumba), have created their own meanings (based on emic view) for natural disasters that differ from the views of scholars and from the Indonesian government’s policy as the global perspective. This difference stems from the creation by the Wunga people of their own taxonomies and perspectives on their ecology.

This paper aims to answer questions about how the Marapu followers in Wunga village view their own vulnerable ecology, what meanings and behavioral responses the Marapu followers in Wunga village ascribe to natural disasters, and the factors that contribute to the formation of these meanings and behaviors. We will see how local identity among Marapu followers gives rise to a discourse of natural disaster that is distinct from constructions of the globalization. In addition, issues of politics of environment and market power will also be used as a framework of interpretation to see the problem of poverty in Wunga as a risk factor of disasters that could happen in the future.

Keywords: Marapu, ethnoecology, natural disaster, meaning, and response.
"

What can the Participatory Budget (PB) teach us about slum upgrading in the cities of the Global South? This article describes the process of slum upgrading via PB in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Participatory budgeting _PB is a renowned mechanism of resource allocation that transfers decision-making power over the capital expenditure portion of the municipal budget from the City Council to public assemblies. However, the impact of PB on municipal service delivery in general and housing in particular is understudied. Ethnographic findings are based on slum upgrading process via PB in an informal settlement in the East District of Porto Alegre. Fieldwork included 16 interviews with residents who had been PB delegates, PB councilors, municipal architects, lawyers, and the social worker involved in the slum upgrading project of Vila Radiante, East District. Furthermore, analysis of district-level expenditures on public works required for slum upgrading as well as analysis of site plans informed the conclusions. The Porto Alegre PB demonstrates that slum dwellers' involvement in all stages of the slum upgrading process, from resource allocation to service delivery, contributed to the effective distribution of housing and basic infrastructure. Slum dwellers are a heterogeneous group with diverse housing needs. Housing via PB addresses this diversity and provides an alternative to the dichotomist debate in international planning between, on one hand, slum clearance followed by public housing projects and, on the other, the promotion of assisted self-help housing through programs of land tenure and basic infrastructure provision.

Phronetic organizational research is an approach to the study of management and organizations focusing on ethics and power. It is based on a contemporary interpretation of the Aristotelian concept phronesis, usually as ‘prudence’. Phronesis is the ability to think and act in relation to values, to deliberate about ‘things that are good or bad for humans’ in the words of Aristotle (1976:1140a24–b12). Phronetic organizational research effectively provides answers to the following four value-rational questions, for specific problematics in management and organization studies: 1. Where are we going with this specific management problematic? 2. Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? 3. Is this development desirable? 4. What, if anything, should we do about it?

Chap 1 (pages 1-24) excerpted from the book, Venezuela´s Polarized Politics:  The Paradox of Direct Democracy Under Chavez. Ana L.Mallen and Maria Pilar Garcia-Guadilla . First Forum Press. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. 2017.
How Participatory democracy led to profound polarization in Venezuela

The Aalborg Project may be interpreted as a metaphor of modern politics, modern administration and planning, and of modernity itself. The basic idea of the project was comprehensive, coherent, and innovative, and it was based on rational and democratic argument. During implementation, however, when idea met reality, the play of Machiavellian princes, Nietzschean will to power, and Foucauldian rationality-as-rationalization resulted in the fragmentation of the project.

Psychological First Aid (PFA) consists of a systematic set of helping actions aimed at reducing initial post-trauma distress and supporting short- and long-term adaptive functioning. Designed as an initial component of a comprehensive disaster/trauma response, PFA is constructed around eight core actions: contact and engagement, safety and comfort, stabilization, information gathering, practical assistance, connection with social supports, information on coping support, and linkage with collaborative services. PFA for children and adolescents focuses on these same core actions, with modifications to make them developmentally appropriate. Formal evaluation of the effectiveness of PFA is needed and it is hoped that development of a PFA Field Operations Guide will facilitate such evaluation.