RE: Precursors and general strategy

[Tom Beierle <beierle@rff.org>]

Ellen points out one of the principal challenges of evaluating public participation:  the goals and objectives for public participation programs have never been definitively articulated in a general sense, and they are only rarely articulated in specific projects.  Unlike many public policy actions, we don't have a clear, common understanding about what public participation processes are supposed to "do."  Indeed, over the course of this dialogue we have seen many different perspectives on just that issue. 

The lack of common understanding about the goals and objectives of public participation is exactly why a Public Involvement Plan (PIP) is important and why this dialogue began with a discussion about the PIP's goals and objectives.  These goals and objectives are the starting point for establishing a baseline and measuring progress.  It is appropriate that the first day of the dialogue dealt with goals and the last deals with evaluation.  The two--as Ellen points out--are inextricably linked.

Speaking of evaluation, I'll make another plug for everyone to fill out the evaluation survey for this dialogue, located at:  http://www.info-ren.org/network-democracy/epa-pip/join/epasurvey.shtml