Working Group 4 - main objectives

WG4 should assess models, tools and conventions for different phases of participatory planning process and for different tasks within these phases; for evaluating the effectiveness of DSSs in supporting participatory processes; and for deriving improved protocols to be included in guidelines on good practices for DSS development and use, the last point in concert with WG1.

Work Program 2009

Activities and Outputs

• WG4 established - 27 participants from 13 countries.
• Definition of public participation has been defined as well as a classification scheme of methods models and tools.
• Case template defining documentation of cases of participatory planning in forestry
• A description of cases following the template is emerging.
• A preliminary list of success criteria for participatory processes has been developed.
• WG4 sessions at Riga meeting.
• A WG4 designated page on the wiki opened.

Work Program 2010

Activities and Outputs

• WG4 enlargened - 31 participants from 14 countries.
• The success criteria for participatory planning have been reviewed, and the criteria most relevant to DSS development have been selected, and their importance discussed. (manusript Menzel, S. et al. 2010, Between ethics and technology - evaluation criteria for the development of appropriate DSS in the context of participatory planning under preparation)
• Six cases for participatory planning have been included to the list so far, from three different countries. More cases will be included in the coming year.
• The usefulness of DSS tools in the context of PP will be further analyzed through interviews of professionals working in the field (Italy and Finland under work), and an email questionnaire to professionals in other countries
• Descriptions of the usage of participation in the development will be included to the DSS WIKI template for further analysis
• Descriptions of usage of DSS methods and tools in different phases of participatory planning will be collected in the coutry reports for further analysis

Work on CR reports and cases presented in the WIKI

• The contribution of DSS on participation is analyzed based on the information collected from important cases with case template questions, and from the coutry reports

The overall work plan

The first task for this is to establish general success measures for public participation by reviewing the existing literature. The review has been carried out, but new measures may be included during the work.

Meta-analysis of the collected information

Information is collected in two ways: First, the information is collected during the preparation process of country reports, concerning the problem types involving several parties. Information is collected on 1) what tools and methods are used, 2) in what phases they are used, and 3) how participatory planning is carried out (open/restricted/expert participation). Second, the information is collected concerning specific cases of interest from the participatory planning point of view. The cases of interest for participatory planning will be presented on the WIKI pages, and presented based on the case template given.

These problem type descriptions and specific cases will be subject to a further meta-analysis of the usage/usefulness of the different tools for the point of view of participatory planning.

A framework for classifying different models and tools

The work of the WG includes the review of different tools and working conventions and recommendations related to participation process. As the process covers all the phases (intelligence, design, choice, monitor), also the models and tools of participatory process relate to all these. In addition, the organization of the whole process is an issue. The phases are further divided to tasks. The work in the first year focuses on for listing tasks related to each phase of participatory process, and on finding appropriate classifications for the existing models, tools and conventions under different tasks (for a draft, see Appendix 1).

Reviewing existing models and tools

In the second year the models, tools and conventions related to tasks (how - questions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 or a selection of them in Appendix1) in different fields are reviewed. The aim is to find good practices that could be brought to forestry practice.

Part of the questions may also serve in defining the success criteria.

Evaluating the cases

The cases are selected based on the criteria outlined in Riga meeting from different countries. The selected cases are then evaluated based on the selected success criteria. Then, it is defined what properties of the process and/or the forest DSS support the success in each of the cases.

Preparing the guidelines

Based on all the work carried out, guidelines for forestry practise are presented in the form of final report.