Practical Approaches to Participation: SERG Policy Brief Number 1

This policy brief stems from the ‘Practical Approaches to Participation’ workshop, held in October 2003 at the Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen. The aim of the workshop was to facilitate a critical dialogue on participatory approaches to environmental decision-making by bringing together practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and people who have taken part in participatory processes. Despite the increasing demand for participatory processes, experience illustrates that following best practice guidance, without addressing wider issues of organisational and political context, will not guarantee
satisfactory outcomes. This policy brief challenges the ‘toolkit’ approach to participation and focuses on the constraints to applying existing best practice approaches.