Introduction
Participation is an important part of the NAPs/inclusion process and is one of the four Common Objectives agreed by the Nice European Council - to mobilise all the relevant bodies. This implies that for the mainstreaming of social inclusion to be effective, a key element is the involvement of all relevant actors at each stage of the policy cycle. This requires the Member States to introduce structures and processes to make participation possible. The challenge for governments is how to provide structures for the involvement and participation of all stakeholders.
Involvement can be considered as a spectrum of the interaction between those in a position of authority and those in a subordinate role, for example, between management and employees. Participation is one of a number of stages on this spectrum, which ranges from the provision of information to joint decision-making, or co-determination.
- Information and the sharing of knowledge is the 'life blood' of involvement, as without the full and complete availability of information on the policy initiative, which is made available in good time, it is not possible for either consultation or participation to be meaningful.
- Consultation provides those individuals or groups who are interested and involved to express views on a proposal and to influence the final decision but not to be involved in the making of that decision, which remains the prerogative of the policy-makers who may, or may not, take into consideration the views put forward through a consultation process, in making the decisions. Consultation cannot be effective unless those who are been consulted have all the relevant information on the proposed policy.
- Participation recognises the contribution made by all the stakeholders in the decision-making process equally and it provides individuals and groups with the ability to influence the process and to have their views incorporated in the final outcomes.
- Co-decision making goes one step further by ensuring that a consensus is reached during the decision-making process, that policies are arrived at jointly and that they reflect the concerns and priorities of all those who will be affected by the decision, resulting in all the stakeholders having a joint ownership of the final outcome.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) looks at this process another way - as a continuum of options. This continuum provides a framework for the relationship between statutory agencies and the voluntary sector:
- Information;
- Consultation;
- Partnership
- Delegation
- Control.
Consultation varies in form from simply informing people what government proposes to do (information) to various levels of empowerment (partnership, delegation and control) explicitly designed to involve those outside government in a decision.1
If participation is to be an integral part of mainstreaming social inclusion into all aspects of national and local public policy-making, then it requires that the actors at all levels of the policy cycle, both horizontally (across all ministries and State agencies) and vertically (from those involved in the policy design, its implementation, the provision of the programmes and/or service, to the external target audience - individuals, groups and representative organisations), need access to information, to be consulted and to participate in each stage of the policy process.
Participation in the NAPs/inclusion
This section looks at the arrangements in place for the consultation of relevant groups and organisations in the preparation of the NAPs/inclusion in the partner countries. Participation of the actors in this process is important for the mainstreaming of social inclusion and the guidelines for the preparation of the NAPs/inclusion include a proposal that Member States 'promote, according to the national practice, the participation and self-expression of people suffering exclusion, in particular in regard to their situation and the policies and measures affecting them'.2
| No Mention | Brief Mention | Discussed in Detail | Given High Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria Italy Cyprus Hungary Slovenia |
Finland Germany Greece Spain UK (NI) Czech Republic Poland Slovak Republic Norway* |
France Estonia Latvia |
Denmark Ireland Portugal Sweden Lithuania Malta |
1 Background paper in OECD Responsive Government Shand D and Arnberg M OECD, Paris (1996), as quoted in Supporting Voluntary Activity: A White Paper on a framework for supporting voluntary activities and for developing the relationship between the State and the Community and Voluntary Sector Government Publications, Dublin (2000)
2 Objectives for the fight against poverty and social exclusion 'Annex to the Annex' in the documentation for the European Council, Nice, (December, 2000), (Objective 4 - To mobilise all relevant bodies)