Explain the advantages of public participation? In three points.
Answers
Answer:
Improved understanding of client expectations and user group needs • Improved agency understanding of conservation issues • Improved agency understanding of the role and contribution of the community • Greater continuity in knowledge • Ability to build community support for a project and to improve stakeholder .
Explanation:
The benefits of participation are often considered to be:
Improved governance, including increased democratic legitimacy for institutions because of close links with citizens, improved reputations for public bodies, increased opportunities for active citizenship, and greater accountability of public bodies because of more effective information dissemination and better dialogue.
Greater social cohesion etc, including bringing diverse and sometimes hostile communities together, bringing ‘hard to reach’ and ‘disadvantaged’ groups into discussions, building relationships within and between different communities and social groups (‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ social capital), strengthening and creating new networks that enable different interests to work together as a result of building more positive relationships based on a better knowledge of each other, and increased equality of access to policy and decision-making processes.
Improved quality of services, projects and programmes, including ensuring public service investment is based more on people’s expressed needs, reducing management and maintenance costs by reducing vandalism and misuse as a result of engendering a sense of ownership, enabling faster and easier decisions (e.g. on new developments or protective designations) by reducing conflict between different parties and increasing trust through better communications, and enabling people to share in the responsibility for improving their own quality of life (e.g. health and well-being, or the local environment).