From Users and Choosers to Makers and ShapersRepositioning Participation in Social Policy¹

Abstract

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Participatory Spaces of Mental Health Service User Organizations in the Post-deinstitutional Era: Mapping Roles and Challenges

“…Participation is not only enacted through claiming the right to be represented in spaces for policy making, but MHSUOs occupying spaces for service provisioning also have potential to create platforms for the articulation of rights (Cornwall and Gaventa 2000). Just like invited spaces, we define claimed spaces as relational to authorities but these spaces are chosen by service user groups themselves and created through the struggle of social movement organizations to participate (Cornwall 2004;Gaventa 2004).…”

“…The previous struggle of MHSUOs to be consulted is currently shifting toward demanding accountability and transparency on the part of authorities (cf. Cornwall and Gaventa 2000).…”

“…Cornwall and Gaventa (2000) argue that new arenas and more direct ways for citizens to influence government are currently being explored and have broadened the definition of service user participation. The concept of participation is in this paper extended beyond processes initiated by authorities, to include autonomous arenas created for service user group engagements.…”

“…Participation can be defined as an extension of democracy and citizenship, but it is also associated with state retrenchment whereby the market is constructed as a 'surrogate arena for citizenship' (Cornwall and Schattan Coelho 2007, p. 5). The latter definition of participation involves service users being defined as both providers and consumers of services, and this needs to be distinct from participation focused on the redistribution of power (Cornwall and Gaventa 2000;Cornwall and Schattan Coelho 2007). MHSUOs exploring participation in issues that are not psychiatry-specific, such as housing policy and social insurance, could potentially allow for a shift from consumerist discourses focused on individual choice within the service system.…”

Farmer Participation in Private Sector Agricultural Extension

“…However, small and poor farmers are unlikely to exert a strong influence. This implies a limited empowerment of poor rural people to be 'users and choosers' but not necessarily 'makers and shapers' of the goods and services they receive -able to exercise a limited kind of accountability through the market but not much more than that (Cornwall and Gaventa 2001). However, in the case of the Monsanto Smallholder Programme, we see an example of a situation in which a large transnational company geared up a programme specifically targeted towards the small farmer segment of the market.…”