PLA 40: Deliberative Democracy and Citizen Empowerment

February 2001

Guest Editors: Michel Pimbert and Tom Wakeford

The special theme section in this issue focuses on how to engage ‘the public’ in policy formulation. Civil society is increasingly interested in ideas about good governance, deepening democracy and citizen empowerment. There is particular interest in how to bring the public or ‘lay’ perspectives into areas where traditionally they have had little or no involvement. This issue of PLA draws together some key thinking around public participation, using a range of techniques known as ‘Deliberative and Inclusionary Processes’ (DIPs), including mechanisms like citizen juries, citizen conferences and the like. The main experience with these processes has been in the North, although increasingly they are being adopted and adapted in the South.

This issue also contains general items about PLA and a tribute to Jimmy Mascarenhas, a PLA practitioner who did much to develop and spread PLA approaches.

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Editorial - Readership Survey
Laura Greenwood

Petals and thorns: the dilemmas of PLA and debt bondage
Joanna Busza, Hom Em Xakha, Ly Saranda Da and Un Saron

Introducing PRA techniques in the learning of environmental education in Southern Peru
Sonia Gomez Garcia and Jose Pizarro Neyra

Lessons from malaria control activities in urban West Africa using a research-action-capacity building approach
G. Felber, N. Othingué, N. Yemadji and K. Wyss

In memorandum of Jimmy Mascarenhas
Robert Chambers