Citizen participation in development… a myth, a reality?

Mfaniseni Mdlalose writes:-

I WAS explaining to my nephew about citizen participation in community development; I was intrigued about his interest in the subject matter. We had a wonderful discussion, throwing in examples, explaining the good and the bad of this process. Maybe I can get a few like my nephew who might be interested in understanding this approach in community development.

Chapter 7 Section 152 (1) (e) of the South African Constitution, the supreme law of the country, states that local government should encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government. In other words, it should be an enabling government or developmental government.

Participatory planning allows every sector group (for instance: the youth, senior citizens, women, people who are physically challenged, to mention but a few) who has a stake in development to have a voice either in person or by representation. This process should not be dominated by individuals who might claim to be representing everyone who might be affected by that development. I am talking here about a true representation including children and the youth who are not wearing any “church cap”. Naturally some people might not be interested in the process, some might want to participate but feel intimidated by the set up in which they have to participate.

Citizen participation is not rubber stamping someone’s ideas; each participant is an important player. This process empowers citizens in some way; thus natural leadership is also birth by the process. Meaningful citizen participation involves exchange of opinions, empathy, debates, frustration, and deadlocks and at the end the acceptance of the outcome of the engagements. Participatory spaces such as Integrated Development Planning (IDP) forums and Community Based Planning (CBP) engagements should be accessible, by this I mean they should consider time which the meetings are held, venues, how they are advertise and other considerations to ensure inclusivity.

When participants are there, these spaces should not be intimidating; individuals should be protected; the focus is finding win-win solutions to problems affecting neighbourhoods and communities at large. Participation of the population groups is crucial otherwise projects might miss the target. This reminds me of the “toilets in the veld” saga; you can Google the story for more information on this saga.

As citizens we need to take advantage of our Constitutional rights, participate in IDP and CBP meetings, remember nobody should plan for you without you being involved in a meaningful way. Young and senior citizens (who are sometimes forgotten) need to get involved so that their voices will matter, the evidence will be when they see their footprints in their communities, more spaces when they can hang out. We are all responsible to make our spaces work for us. Participatory planning is like an Oprah Winfrey show, everybody comes out of the show with some goodies (goodies here could mean that you were given space to advocate for your felt needs and a realistic strategy to address that need). The advantages of this process are that citizens take ownership of their development agenda, it also build a stronger base for interventions in the community. It has a potential to ensure that projects have credibility in all sector groups. This way of engaging citizens in planning for their community projects has a potential to strengthen solidarity in communities and this is much desired in this country.

The downfall of citizen participation is that it requires a commitment from all development stakeholders to come to fruition. It has to be well resourced in order to be carried out effectively. It is not an event; it needs consistency and passion to work with people. It needs one responsible for citizen planning processes to get out of the office into where sector groups are; “elokishini, emthonjeni, emholweni yezalukazi, in youth hang outs joints” etc. This commitment to a meaningful citizen participation in planning for community projects would assist city or town planners to be relevant and spot on in what is needed by citizens planned for. As citizens we are not to be spectators in our community; citizen participation should not be a myth, let it be a reality! Planners should also demystify Integrated Development Planning and Community Based Planning processes.