Stakeholder Engagement in Policy Development: Observations and Lessons from International Experience

Helbig, Natalie; Dawes, Sharon S.; Dzhusupova, Zamira; Klievink, Bram; Mkude, Catherine G.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12784-2_9

Cited by 30 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The model assumes that population and land use distribution are going to evolve as planned by the Kuwait Municipality from a top-down perspective and according to resident responses in the survey (bottom-up perspective) ( Helbig et al., 2015 ). The model will simulate the population movement from old urban areas to the new cities, as well as future traffic congestion and housing shortage issues.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Projection for new city future scenarios – A case study for Kuwait

Alghais

Pullar

2018

Heliyon

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The creation of new cities is a planning approach adopted in several regions around the world, in order to accommodate urban growth. New cities are typically constructed according to well-thought out, centralised plans in areas without any prior development. However, whether the development of these new cities is able to address existing urban issues more effectively than traditional methods such as intensification, is currently an unanswered research question. Several Arabian Gulf countries, such as Kuwait are considering the construction of new cities to address urban issues, specifically the traffic congestion and housing shortages. In Kuwait, the master plan for these construction projects was developed solely by state authorities without any public participation or urban modelling that may have provided a more well-rounded view of the potential impacts and effectiveness.This paper aims to address these research opportunities of investigating the effectiveness of new cities in addressing traffic congestion and housing shortage, as well as the potential to integrate public opinions in urban development in the form of a model. Towards that end, the study proposes an Agent Based Model (ABM) that will allow simulating the population distribution and urban growth impacts of new cities in Kuwait by 2050. The methodology involves collecting primary data via interviewing the key government stakeholders of urban development and surveying the residents in order to collect the model inputs. In Kuwait's society, citizens and non-citizens form two distinct resident groups with often very diverse needs and lifestyles; hence the survey responses will differentiate between them. The data from the interviews and surveys from both resident groups will be incorporated as agent behaviours in the ABM. The simulations examine a multitude of scenarios for the new cities, involving construction delays and infrastructure project delays. The results indicate that the impacts of constructing new cities will be favourable across all different scenarios in terms of alleviating the traffic congestion and housing shortage compared to a business as usual approach of existing urban centre expansion. Furthermore, the survey responses confirm that the resident perspectives closely align with the government's priorities in the master plan for the new cities, further improving the chances for the successful project implementation. The methodology and findings may be applied in cities in the Gulf area or elsewhere with similar urban issues.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Projection for new city future scenarios – A case study for Kuwait

Alghais

Pullar

2018

Heliyon

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“…people in local government or government regulatory bodies) or external (e.g. people from nongovernment, civil society organisations or citizens who provide or advocate for healthcare services (2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…National health policies and plans with comprehensive stakeholder engagement (of all stakeholders within as well as stakeholders beyond the health sector) at all stages of the policy development process tend to be more robust and have more effective implementation (2,8). As such stakeholder engagement is considered an essential part of democracy in both developed and developing countries (5).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder engagement in the health policy process in a low income country: a qualitative study of stakeholder perceptions of the challenges to effective inclusion in Malawi

Masefield

Msosa

Chinguwo

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Inclusive engagement in healthcare policies and decision-making, including with patients, non-government organisations and local government, is essential to address the needs of patients and communities, reducing health inequities and increasing the accountability of the government. In low income countries such as Malawi, with significant health challenges, stakeholder inclusion is particularly important to improve performance and service delivery. The 2017 National Health Plan II (NHP II) and accompanying Health Sector Strategic Plan II (HSSP II) aimed to improve the functioning of the healthcare system. The Ministry of Health for Malawi intended to involve all key health sector stakeholders in their development. This study explores the extent of stakeholder engagement in the health policy process through the perceptions of local level stakeholders of their engagement in the NHP II and HSSP II.Methods: A qualitative study design was used. Interviews were conducted with 19 representatives of organisations operating at the local level, such as civil society organisations and local government. Open questions were asked about experiences and perceptions of the development of the NHP II and HSSP II. Inductive content analysis was performed.Results: Stakeholders perceived barriers to inclusive and meaningful engagement in the health policy process. Three categories were identified: power (tokenistic involvement; stakeholder hierarchy; mutual distrust); representation (preferred stakeholders; open versus invited engagement); stakeholder-driven engagement. Conclusions: Local level stakeholders identified serious challenges to the meaningful and equitable engagement of stakeholder groups in the health policy process. Issues of trust, accountability and hierarchy in donor-citizen-government relations must be addressed to support stakeholder engagement. Engagement must go beyond tokenism to embed a range of stakeholders in the process with feedback mechanisms to ensure impact from their contributions. Local level stakeholders can be empowered to advocate for and participate in both invited and open stakeholder engagement exercises, and policy literacy increased but greater top-down efforts to engage stakeholders via diverse and inclusive methods are also required. These issues are not unique to Malawi or to health policy-making.

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“…The The Western political system has been built upon democratic foundations and based on a regulatory framework which encourages active involvement and participation of the public in various political decisions and policy implementation exercises (Helbig et al 2015). Such political systems are oriented towards promoting accountability and transparency when public money collected by taxation is spent.…”

Section: Urban Systems In Western Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The principles of good governance(UNESCAP 2009) The active involvement and collaboration of multiple stakeholders within urban system planning is directed via a combination of top-down and bottom-up strategies, which involve consultations and exchange of opinions, in an effort to minimise conflict between participating groups(Helbig et al 2015). The role of state authorities is regulating the design and enforcement of policies related to urban development and systems.…”

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confidence: 99%

Developing urban models to address population growth impacts and assisting with future urban planning in Kuwait and other Arabian Gulf countries

Alghais¹

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During the last six decades Kuwait has experienced a rapid and unprecedented population growth with only a small increase in the urban areas. The alarming rise in urban density in Kuwait has caused issues for the residents' lifestyles, the economy and the environment. These issues have been aggravated by urban planning that perpetuated a city-centric urban form without modelling the impacts of current patterns of urban growth. A spatial model using Agent Based Modelling (ABM) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is proposed to model disaggregate future changes in land use patterns given forecast population estimates and planning policies. The two main impacts considered are housing shortage and traffic congestion as these are the two most significant social impacts for Kuwaitis. This paper discusses the design methodology and parameterization of the ABM and the agent groups. It characterizes urban growth by rules for different citizen groups, historical growth patterns and the influence of decision makers. The model is validated against data for the period 1995-2015 and simulations run to 2050; the results predict that continued city-centric growth will aggravate the problems with greater than 50% increase in housing shortage and congestion unless the government intervenes to rectify the situation.

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Stakeholder Engagement in Policy Development: Observations and Lessons from International Experience

Cited by 30 publications

References 45 publications

Projection for new city future scenarios – A case study for Kuwait

Projection for new city future scenarios – A case study for Kuwait

Stakeholder engagement in the health policy process in a low income country: a qualitative study of stakeholder perceptions of the challenges to effective inclusion in Malawi

Developing urban models to address population growth impacts and assisting with future urban planning in Kuwait and other Arabian Gulf countries

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