1. The challenges of regional governance
1.1. The foundations of good governance
Drawing on the concept of new or good governance, considerable attempts have been made to renew the decision making process, both in Europe and worldwide. This concept may be defined as an approach that aims, with due regard for human rights and fundamental freedoms, to optimise the management of institutions; the process of decision-making by public authorities; and the management of public funds. Within this approach, due account needs to be taken of ideas and desiderata corresponding to the expectations of the stakeholders in society, these include:
- the emergence of civil society and the development of participative democracy;
- the need to rebuild trust in the usefulness of political debate and public action;
- identifying and taking account of the expectations of users of public services;
- drawing a distinction between political strategies and strategic orientations emanating from civil society;
- taking better account of structural financial constraints brought about by global competition
- an obligation to inform citizens of the effects of public policies and management;
- taking into account local and global issues of sustainable development;
- the open application of innovative tools (processes, formal techniques and methods) to political decision-making and debate; as well as to the management of public and private projects. Such tools include diagnostic methods, empowerment, strategic guidance, decision-making, quality management, social dialogue and contractualisation, evaluation and foresight.
1.2. Contractualisation and collective action
Contractualisation have increasingly become the most meaningful method of ensuring the participation of stakeholders necessary to any project. A powerful tool for collective action, social contracts make the individual accountable and are based upon economic, social and cultural realities. In a given territory, social contracts acts as a safeguard for democracy and balance the interests of government, the administration and stakeholders, without diminishing the standard, or the role of the State. In a market economy system, it constitutes an approach, which is synonymous with flexibility, autonomy and responsibility.
1.3. Participation in the regional strategic debate
Wallonia was conceived as a territorial community, a political entity and part of the Belgian federation. It is also a society of stakeholders, party to these observations, which must face up to global, European and Belgian federal issues as well as its own evolution. In other words, the Walloon project can be defined, on the basis of civil society, as a common entreaty for more democracy and greater well-being. It aims to promote endogenous dynamics, putting stakeholders (citizens, businesses, associations, etc.) at the core of its reflections by resolutely following the path of a viable and sustainable development logic.
The desire to influence the course of history finds expression through a debate on strategic options for the region, as well as the drafting and implementation of social contracts. Starting from the Walloon civil society, this requires that better account be taken of the issues faced by global society and the anticipation of future needs, on a cross-disciplinary and non-sectoral basis. In order for Wallonia to assume control of the orientation of its strategy requires mechanisms allowing the consultation, recognition and participation of all stakeholders in the regional project. In other words, this new governance requires the creation of fora for meetings and debates that favour learning, dissemination and spreading, in collective terms, of a culture and the tools necessary for its implementation. The Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society may constitute one such forum.
Likewise, by reinforcing the practice of evaluation and foresight, the Society may contribute to shedding light upon conflicts which, given the issues raised by these approaches, may emerge between stakeholders, in order to help them to manage these conflicts in a fruitful way and to discover a new dynamic balance.
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2. Promoting evaluation
2.1. How to define evaluation ?
Evaluation consists of the analysis – in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, sustainability and viability – of policies, programmes, projects or functions. It is conducted with a view to improving the quality of decision-making, an improved allocation of resources and increased accountability. All evaluations require co-operation and dialogue between the main participants, namely: political representatives, evaluators and the beneficiaries of the action in question, as well as those individuals or bodies with an interest in the policy or programme being evaluated and in consequence the results of the evaluation.
Viewed in this way, evaluation becomes a process resulting in the stakeholders taking ownership of the review of practices and the results of the subject matter evaluated. The indicators chosen and the analysis conducted must be validated at each stage and the evaluation must allow for a continual expression of points of view. Evaluators in turn must intervene with due consideration and tact with respect to the actions or functions evaluated in order to avoid conflict with their interlocutors, the latter always leading to the failure of an evaluation.
2.2. The contribution of evaluation to the democratic process
The present charter adopts a definition of evaluation, as promoted by the European Evaluation Society, which can be labelled ‘democratic’ and/or ‘participative’, depending on the circumstances. This approach to evaluation implies a set of ethical standards that ensures a clear and transparent obligation on both the contractor and the various stakeholders with regard to the results of the evaluation. Other approaches are considered to better defined by terms such as control, audit, or external study.
An evaluation may foster democracy by increasing the visibility and the understanding of the policies being conducted, insofar as:
- the scope of the evaluation has been precisely defined;
- the logic behind the public policy evaluated has been clarified;
- any conflicts of objectives have explicitly identified;
- the objectives pursued have been explained and the resources used have been identified;
- the externalities and the side effects of the policy conducted have been measured;
- the constraints on and the practices of the various stakeholders are known to all concerned;
- the independence of the evaluator and of the approach make it possible to take account of the common interest as well as the concerns of groups which might not be represented in the evaluation committee;
- the credibility of the evaluators, their methodological process and the confidence placed in them is unquestionable ;
- no evaluation organisation has a monopoly on the market for evaluation in its sphere of competence;
- the scope, subject, objectives and indicators of the approach, as well as the system of reference have been previously determined (so as to avoid determining the objectives on the basis of the results);
- the quality of the criteria and indicators have been proven;
- the evaluation has been conducted in a manner to allow all points of view to be heard, at least as far as the conclusions are concerned;
- appropriate transparency and publicity of the launching of the evaluation and its results is ensured.
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3. Promoting future studies
3.1. A definition of foresight
Foresight is a rigorous process, generally carried out on a cross-disciplinary networked basis. This approach makes it possible to identify the evolution of trends, to identify continuities, interruptions and changes in the variables (players and factors) in the environment, as well as to determine the range of all possible futures. It thus makes it possible to work out coherent strategies and to improve the quality of the decision to be taken. It is one of the techniques necessary for a pro-active attitude that favours the anticipation of events, action to bring about the changes desired and the seizing of new opportunities.
Just like the study of history (retrospective), foresight makes it possible to take an enriched look at the present. This systematic approach has the objective of anticipating the effects of change, helping to define strategies and adapt them. It is based on listening and analysing society in order to identify stable factors and ephemeral influences, the signals and trends making it possible to determine not the future but some possible futures. It requires an assessment to be made of the parameters on which policies may act; or by a systematic approach, to identify the links and dependencies between different types of factors or displaying distinct trends.
3.2. The contribution of foresight to the democratic process
Three major dimensions of foresight contribute to casting more light on the crucial issues of the future: its social vision of reality, its understanding of the dimension of time, its global nature in the examination of economic, social, political and cultural changes and their impact in a given space. Foresight thereby opens up the fields of the possible. This open future, which is sketched out but never definite, makes it possible to identify the issues arising and the possible choices by widening the debate. It therefore creates a renewed freedom of action and thus reinforces the confidence of the stakeholders. In public life, this range of possibilities gives meaning to democracy.
By making it possible to identify the probable scenarios and the patterns behind possible interventions by the stakeholders with a view to bringing about the developments required, foresight makes it possible to introduce into the public debate a logic of anticipation (monitoring social problems, for example) and premeditation (identifying crucial actions), rather than a solution.
A collective approach to foresight analysis strengthens the autonomy of the stakeholders participating, and thus the collective efficiency of a community, whether private or public. Similarly to evaluation, participative democracy calls, on the part of the citizen, to learn in an open-minded manner the methods used in foresight, the publication of the analysis conducted and a clarification of the issues and the results arising.
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4. The role of the Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society
The Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society, by its nature, is an expression of the civil society. Its vocation is to stimulate, clarify, and support the task of the stakeholders whose responsibility it is.
Accordingly, the role of the SWEP will be neither to conduct evaluations nor to act in the field of foresight as a substitute for the stakeholders in those fields. It will organise no evaluation itself other than those of the general development of the practices of evaluation and foresight or its own action. Nor will it distribute financial resources for any other form of evaluation or foresight, or act as an intermediary to assist stakeholders vis-à-vis potential sponsors).
The creation of the Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society is intended to lead to four overall outcomes :
- the raising of the level of expertise in Wallonia in foresight, on the one hand, and in evaluation, on the other;
- the stimulation of the functions of evaluation, on the one hand, and foresight, on the other, in the public and private institutions;
- the generalisation of evaluation procedures in political projects;
- an ethical, democratic and methodological scrutiny.
These four overall outcomes correspond to three lines of action which are : engendering an ethical and methodological debate, cultural development and questioning decision-makers.
4.1. Engendering an ethical and methodological debate
The Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society seeks to be a forum for deliberation and exchange between stakeholders regarding methods, skills, practices and ethical questions; in addition to being one source of information in the fields of foresight and evaluation, in order to promote the drafting of references and the capitalisation of experiences.
This function implies a task of collecting and classifying ethical and methodological information, support for evaluation research, on the one hand, and foresight research on the other, notably by means of:
- the contribution of financial resources and institutional and computer support for research projects in foresight and evaluation;
- the organisation of networks or ad hoc contacts between clients, beneficiaries and those carrying out foresight and/or evaluation work relating directly or indirectly to Wallonia;
- aid to the development of fruitful relations between the stakeholders through the drafting of models for social contracts, notably terms of reference;
- the provision, continuously or on request, of studies and information relating to foresight or evaluation issues;
- assistance in gaining a foothold for Walloon stakeholders in international networks related to evaluation or foresight.
Moreover, an examination of the position and the independence of experts with respect to stakeholders and public authorities needs to be a constant topic of this reflection.
4.2. Cultural development
Democracy calls for a minimum degree of mastery, both by decision-makers and by the general public, of the techniques promoting its’ functioning. The Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society sets itself the task of promoting the understanding and use of the language of evaluation and foresight by all Walloons.
Accordingly, the SWEP seeks to be a forum for development of the culture of evaluation and foresight, by raising awareness among the economic, social, technological, political and cultural stakeholders in Wallonia of the value of foresight and evaluation, as well as good practice.
To this end, the Society may develop and make available to Walloon stakeholders a permanent information tool relating to public and private studies and reports relating to future trends, as well as the results of the evaluations conducted in all fields of interest to them, in order to stimulate through practice a concrete interest in foresight and evaluation, and in order to stimulate their reflection, a pro-activity and their flexibility.
In the same spirit of development of the culture of evaluation and foresight, the SWEP will, in collaboration with the public authorities, business and associative circles, promote the setting up of suitable education and training tools. Likewise, the Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society will contribute to the emergence of common fora in which debates may be held on the trends and the evaluation of a shared regional existence.
4.3. Questioning decision-makers
The Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society needs to follow good practice and promote clear rules. It will also have to convince all the private and public decision-makers that evaluation, and foresight in fact, should be carried out on a participative basis.
Therefore, the foresight approach needs to give considerable attention to the expression and identification of latent and real needs, and to these on to the major changes which are occurring and impacting on society as a whole. In this respect, it needs to continue to question all forms of power constituted and structured, in order to conserve its operational capacity.
Likewise, as a response to the risks of manipulation or pitfalls arising from a process dictated solely by experts, a participative design of the evaluation of public policies opens it up to economic and social stakeholders as well as to civil society. Where the various parties involved are represented within an evaluation body, they bring their disparate skills to the evaluation project, guaranteeing it a pluralistic and multidisciplinary character. In this sense, the approach to evaluation and foresight needs to bring together, by adopting suitable methods, representatives from the entities evaluated (for their awareness of practical issues), representatives from associations representing the sectors of the public concerned, specialists in the various disciplines concerned, members of inspection and control bodies (for their knowledge of the methods of operation of the sector concerned), and representatives of the public and private sectors concerned (to facilitate a comparative approach).
Participation implies the definition and organisation of a formal structure for foresight or evaluation procedures, both through quality control (scientific and methodological accompaniment, certification etc.), and through permanent monitoring bodies (for example, a parliamentary office for the evaluation of technical and scientific choices).
The Wallonia Evaluation and Foresight Society will be attentive to recognising the specific methodological and ethical features, both shared and specific to the private and public and non-profit sectors.