Does Participatory Governance Matter?

The purpose of this workshop was to establish the conceptual and methodological approaches that will allow us to assess the impact of participatory governance on the lives of citizens, the organization of civil society, the contours of state reform, and, most broadly, the quality of democracy. Workshop participants expressed cautious optimism about the potential for the new institutional formats to make meaningful changes to their environments. However, properly managing expectations of what participatory institutions can accomplish is important, given that these institutions are inserted into incremental policymaking processes where the rate and intensity of change is likely to be slow. In the context of high demand for scarce public resources, it is vital that scholars and policymakers develop a solid base of evidence that shows how and if participatory institutions are producing the intended benefits. During the two days of discussion, it became clear that our understanding of impact should be grounded in four areas: 1) the structural context; 2) modalities of adoption; 3) rules, forms, and design; and 4) the nature of participation. Policymakers contemplating the adoption of participatory institutions would do well to focus on adapting existing programs to create a better fit between the rules and local needs.