The aim of this method is to attempt to create consensus amongst policymakers towards a common vision and the policy changes needed to achieve it.
<aside> 🔑 PAR4P methodology is a specific Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach with a focus on policy development. PAR is based on the active participation of concerned stakeholders in the definition of the problem(s) and formulating of solution(s). PAR4P intensifies collaboration with policymakers, so that recommendations will be more likely translated into public policies. PAR4P involves stakeholders, including citizens, in a bottom-up participatory approach, redefining problems and formulating solutions, in order to achieve more sustainable policymaking.
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PAR4P contains the following five steps:
Step 1: Problem definition: where the general issue that needs to be solved is defined.
As the first step, a policy review needs to be conducted. Gather all existing policy documents (e.g., action plans, regulations, guidelines, development programs, and strategy documents) on the problem you are trying to solve in your project. For example, if you are working towards creating more green spaces in your city through involving local residents, these policy documents can be related to climate action, environmental protection, urban greening and participatory governance, citizen engagement and participatory budgeting, etc. You can do the document analysis through “quick scanning”. For the relevant indicators in your project, such as greening, list all the keywords and synonyms you can think of, and search for these terms in the documents either manually or using a software (e.g., MaxQDA). After the scanning, analyse only the relevant sections of the documents according to your established criteria (e.g., current situation, future vision, barriers, role of citizens, etc.).
The policy review should be accompanied by expert interviews with local authorities to gain more in-depth information from their viewpoint. The civil servants / policymakers to be interviewed can come from different departments and services depending on their knowledge of the particular problem and the foreseen activities in the project. Interview questions should be based and expanded on the policy review.
Step 2: Participants identification: where individuals affected by the issues are identified.
To do this, we recommend mapping all relevant stakeholders (i.e., policy actors, private organizations, public organizations and civil society organizations and neighbourhood associations, community centers, etc. to reach citizens). Realizing stakeholder mapping is quite straightforward: based on desk research, and snowball identification of actors, put together an extended list of relevant stakeholders with their contact details (see also the Stakeholder Mapping tool in this list). During the mapping, particular attention should be paid to organisations representing vulnerable social groups (e.g., citizens with fewer digital skills, older adults, children, citizens with reduced mobility, etc.).
Step 3: Problem re-definition: where participants have the possibility to re-define the problem if needed.
This step is done through (a) participatory workshop(s). Based on the stakeholder map, choose actors from all relevant sectors (e.g., public, private, civil society, academia, etc.). While the content of the workshop is highly context-specific, and results from the policy review and the expert interviews, we suggest some building blocs that might be helpful for the discussions: 1) current problem and challenges (e.g., heat stress), 2) future vision (increasing green infrastructure), 3) specific target audience to involve if any (e.g., older adults, digitally underprivileged groups, etc.) 4) existing tools (e.g., online tree canopy platform) 5) stakeholders to involve (e.g., organisation representing residents of a local neighbourhood). The discussion can be done through (a) use case(s), for example, creating a persona and outlining the project from this imaginary citizen (user) to go through it. Open discussion on participants’ own challenges or other exercises are also possible, see for example, the Future Newspaper tool in this toolkit. During the discussion, focus on the challenges from each actor’s (sector) perspective. For the workshop, it is necessary to have at least one facilitator and another person who takes notes.
Step 4: Solutions identification: where desirable and achievable solutions are identified, together with the actor that can carry on the activity.
You can complete this step during the same workshop as in Step 3. Following the in-depth discussions, encourage participants listing as many recommendations as possible. Then, a prioritisation/voting exercise should be done, (e.g., select the three solutions and three means that you deem most crucial to be implemented) and/or the brown paper method through which you jointly map with participants the most important identified building blocks in Step 3.