2018_1114 HRIEC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Spectrum of Public Participation A framework that explains the different levels of engagement at which organizations can engage their stakeholders/communities. The further to the right on the Spectrum, the greater the influence the community has to influence decision-making. At each level a different promise to the community applies – a promise that decision-makers can be held accountable to. Each level requires a different type of interaction. The Inform level simply provides information throughout a process about work being undertaken by an internal or expert team leading up to a decision being made. The promise is simply about keeping people informed – some would say it is about helping people to understand. No input or feedback is sought from the community of interest. The Consult level is about putting forward options or a proposal for which feedback is sought. The promise is to listen to the community of interest’s feedback, to carefully consider, then make decisions and finally explain how this feedback has been taken into account. The Involve level invites input and ideas from the community to help develop options/potential solutions. The community participates earlier in the process than for the consult level. The community is part of developing solutions, not merely commenting about plans or solutions being proposed by an organization. Ultimately the organization will still make decisions, but they promise that the decisions will be informed by ideas and input. The Collaborate level is a significant jump. It’s about partnering and sharing power – to the maximum extent possible (a phrase that has been used, confused and misused). It takes more time and effort. A range of stakeholders/community members work together with the sponsoring organization to define the scope of the decision to be made, to develop options, to assess those options against agreed criteria in an attempt to arrive at consensus. Although more time consuming and expensive it is the shortest route to an implementable solution for highly complex/controversial decisions. The Empower level is essentially delegated decision-making. It is where an organization promises to do whatever the ‘community of interest’ decides.