Political economy from the users' perspective
- From a political economy perspective, how do approaches work that strengthen the power of users and citizens - in theory and in practice?
- How do these approaches impact on the interests, resources and power relations of the different stakeholders?
- How could we better take account of this in our work?
Guidance for case presenters in the working groups
Session 3: Focus on empowering service users and programme beneficiaries
Objectives of the working group
- The participants learn about a specific approach to empower users and citizens, its merits and the challenges in setting it up and implementing it
- They have learned about the users’ perspectives on the approach.
- They have explored the possibilities of using such an approach in their own programmes
Special note of respect
The forum organizers and all participants are particularly grateful to participants who have agreed to present a challenging situation or a new approach with yet many open questions. Presenting such material is more difficult and courageous than presenting a piece of work that is already labelled as successful. In the working group’s discussion, this will be acknowledged throughout. Pros and cons that the group discussion may come up with should not be understood as criticism, but as a joint effort to explore the merits, potentials and difficulties of these new approaches.
Schedule for the group work
1. Introduction by the group facilitator (10 min.)
2. Case presentation (20 min.)
3. Discussion of the approach (30 min.)
a. Planners’ intentions vs. users’ perspectives on the approach
b. Achievements – so far and prospective
c. Challenges – and how to address them
d. Fit with TC engagement overall
4. Participants explore possibilities for their TC programmes to take on board such demand side approaches (30 min.)
Guidance for Case Presentation
The case presentation should take not more than 20 minutes. It may be supported by a hand-made poster, flipchart or a powerpoint presentation (maximum 10 slides). The presentation should address the following questions:
- Short description of the approach - What? Who? How?
- Why was the approach set up (rationale)?
- How does the approach intend to influence power relations and incentives (theory)?
- How do users/citizens look at the approach? How do they make use of it? Do they use it the way it was intended?
- What are the experiences so far, with regard to empowerment, to service quality and to outcomes?
- How was political support for such an approach secured?
- What are the specific challenges during implementation and how can they be addressed?
