LIST FIGURES
3. Research Methodology
3.4. The Information Collection Process
Asindicated above, I used a multiplicity of methods to conduct my research and to collect the information necessary for the study. While the workshops and focus groups were an essential method, I also made extensive use of interviews with the individuals and relevant stakeholders.
A qualitative data analysis was carried through the use of the relevant research themes and questions. The data analysis is a product of a participatory process between participantsand myself. This process of engagement with participants is a critical element of the project and is an ongoing process. The inputs from these discussions were fed into the data analysis process. Participative data analysis is has been done by effectively lnvolvinq various stakeholders in the process to ensure that all the essential issues are captured by the analysis.
The information gathering methodology used in the workshops and focus groups was an interactive one and sought to engage participants in discussions and exchanges in relation to participation rather than it being a dry process of extracting information and issues.
In the case where I felt it necessary to do so, the key issues that emerged in the workshops were followed up in greater details in the focus group discussions and the structured and unstructured interviews.
During the course of the interactions with stakeholders in the workshops, interviews and focus group discussions, I started off by engaging participants around their understanding, perceptions, merits and demerits about citizen participation in general, citizen participation in relation to the municipality as well as their experiences about participation in this regard.
In the course of these issues being discussed a number of additional issues were raised, both by myself as a researcher and by participants. These issues were the following:
3.4.1. Critical Questions
i. Does the present organisational design allow for proper community participation in local governance?
ii. How do ordinary people, especially the poor, influence decision-making processes of the Municipality including policies, which in turn affect their welfare?
iii. What is the role of citizens in policy formulation processes, project management and implementation? Can they play that role effectively?
iv. How do changing contexts and conditions, from apartheid to democracy, influence the structures through which civil society, the subaltern social groups and the poor exercise voice in critical areas of social needs and other critical aspects?
v. What can the Municipality do to create and strengthen the appropriate community structures required for local governance?
vi. What other appropriate mechanisms can be put in place to ensure the sustainability of civil society structures and end-user groups?
vii. How can the Municipality capacitate members of the community structures, relevant end-user groups, Councillors and officials so that they can participate meaningfully and effectively?
viii. How can the Municipality deal with the change of mindsets so that officials can do business in new a way that looks at community participation as an integral part in service delivery?
3.4.2. Sub-questions
1. What are the key political, social, economic, historical and other issues that impact on citizen participation in the learning area?
2. What is the 'state of citizenship' in the learning area?
3. What is understood by 'citizen participation'?
4. Why do people participate?
5. Why don't they participate?
6. How do they participate?
7. What do they expect of participation processes?
8. What is the nature of citizen participation processes and practices in the learning area?
9. What are the key barriers and enablers to participation in the learning area?
10. What are the implications of the above for strategy development?
11. Who are the most organised sectors/organisations in the ward?
12. What are the major issues around which participation takes place?
13. What are the institutional/organisational forms via which people participate?
14. Who participates, how, why and around what?
15. Who does not participate and why?
16.What is the recent developmental history of the area? What are the current development projects and how much progress has been made with these development projects?
17.What are the problems and challenges regarding these development projects?
18.How do the citizens participate in these projects? What are the levels of citizen participation? Is it real deep participation or is it simply a case of a few strong and influential leaders who participate?
19.Who initiated these projects, who led them?
20.What is the organisational/institutional form in which community participation happens . in these projects?
21. What are the key lessons to learn from the community participation process in these projects?
22.Who are the 'weak voices' in the ward, sub region and learning area?
23.Who are the marginalised sections of the community?
• The voiceless - they exist but do not have any organisation speaking for them.
What are their issues and concerns?
• Unorganised - they exist but do not have any organisation speaking for them.
What are their issues and concerns?
• Poorly organised - they exist but do not have any organisation speaking for them.
What are their issues and concerns?
• The socially excluded groups
24. What are the experiences of the above categories of citizens in terms of participatory processes?
25. What attempts have been made to involve them more deeply? Who has made these attempts?
26. Why did it succeed/ fail?
27. Who should make the final decision in citizen participation processes?
28. What should the role of the key participants in a public process be (including the citizens, general public, political representatives and parties and consultants)?
29. How can the underrepresented and silent voices be more effectively included in participation processes?
30. What institutional provision should the City make for effective citizen participation?