Deciding quickly in a participatory manner

Yesterday's Resource Management Committee meeting(of representatives from Nagai villages) was interesting. I listened intently, didnt miss a word and thought the discussion was of very high quality indeed. I didnt speak in the meeting, partly because I was a newcomer, mainly because, all my ideas, and more, were expressed in a frank manner by the committee members.

The meeting was to discuss the bylaws for the proposed Resource Management Organization. The main issue that came up during the meeting was the doubt whether grassroot implementation of any decision taken by the committee, will actually be possible. Will fishermen accept any control measure that is decided by the committee. After long discussion, the conclusion of the forum, was, we cant force a decision on anybody, all we can do is discuss with villagers, try and convince. It will be a slow process and to start with, we have to build goodwill by taking up some welfare activities(where consensus is there) before taking up difficult issues.

I had some experience of working in committees in IRMA. Our batch had an effective placement committee. We faced problems, learnt our lessons and evolved. By the time we reached placement, our batch had developed the abilities to decide quickly in participatory manner. Imagine participatory decision making, a week before placements. I wish to share our batch experiences.

We started badly, committee taking decisions in committee meetings and announcing it in GBMs (General Body meetings). Our first decision was strongly opposed, all efforts to convince the batch failed. The authoritarian option was always there. But, we decided against it because we knew it would lead to several problems in future.

We went for a vote taking and arrived at the SAME decision. The majority was happy , the minority was concerned. But the committee assured the minority that it is the committee responsibility to make that extra effort to address the minority's concerns.

But, that meeting lasted FOUR hours. We realised that we can neither afford frequent nor lengthy GBMs.

So, the committee announced that the committee requires a degree of autonomy if it has to function effectively. Batch agreed.

But, in the very next issue, batch again demanded a vote and this time, the committee decision was over ruled by the majority. It was an embarrassing situation, as executive volunteers had started working on the earlier decision and the turnaround left them red faced.

The committee realized that the batch rejected our decision making process, rather than the decision itself. We learned that Autonomy is not taken by asking once, it has to be earned.

But, we didnt give up on participation. Next time onwards, we started meeting our batch mates in their hostels and informed them not just the decisions, but discussed the reasons why the particular decision was taken. Involving the batch in the decision making process worked. This way, we could speedily implement several decisions. Sometimes, we would have to address concerns we have overlooked, at times slightly modify the decision, we would take up vote only as a last resort and in the most contentious issues only. With time, the batch developed trust in the committee's decision making process and after a while the committee could decide by itself with a fair degree of autonomy. We were able to effectively negotiate with the Insitute's management on very difficult issues.

In the case of placements, it was a 7 member committee representing 72 participants. In case of the Nagai Resource Management commitee - 25 members represent nearly 8000 fishermen(80 villages, assuming 100 fishermen per village). I fully understand when you say it is a time consuming process.

But, I fear, at the rate at which the process moves, will it be too late by the time we manage to do anything at grass root level.

I think we have the technology to speed up the participatory process. (Radio Alagal & Community Media, VICs)