Advanced Diploma in Participatory Perspectives and Methodologies for Democratic Deepening

OPEN AND FREE INTRODUCTORY CLASS: CONTRADICTORY DEMOCRACIES AND PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES

Teacher: Tomás Rodríguez Villasante 

Conceptual summary of the class: 

The class will be an introductory session discussing theoretical and practical aspects of contemporary democracies, presenting some avenues for further study. The topics to be covered are as follows:  

A- First, the "why" of democracies will be discussed: Explanation of a scheme with the 4 basic exploitations, which shake us, give us fears and provoke mobilizations (environmental, labor, identity, and with co-creative styles). 

B- Next, the question "with whom?" in democratic strategies will be addressed: Examples and explanation from a scheme with the frameworks and networks of communication, relay nodes, and sets of managerial, populist and citizen-oriented actions). 

C- From where does a participatory democratic approach come?: Explanation of a table articulated with 15 approaches from authors and popular movements, which underpin democratic processes from everyday life to state and global transformations. 

D- Defeats and self-criticisms of participation: Participatory ladders and the deceptions that professionals make politicians and populations fall into with competitions and dilemmas versus examples of co-creative collaborations. 

E- Democracies and schemes of where to go?: From Latin America to Kerala, from the commons in the world to mini-publics. Explanation of an integrative scheme, and of a process with deliberation and annual consultation. 

F- Mangroves and strategic processes: Explanation of a scheme to build democracies with initiatives (action sets and ROCE, workshops to prioritize critical issues, generate sociocratic proposals, monitor overflows). 

CLASS 1: THE MANAGEMENT OF ANTAGONISM: BETWEEN DELIBERATION AND AGONISTIC PROTEST 

Teacher: Mario Zubiaga 

Conceptual summary of the class 

The insurmountable tension between conflict and community, the foundation of politics, is managed according to different models: warlike, agonistic, deliberative, and representative. The process of democratization advances in the intermediate space where citizens, individually and collectively, can "be a part" and "take part," even if that "part is not given to them." Or perhaps precisely because of that. And all of this occurs within a permanent state of exception that combines warlike and representative management with the aim of guaranteeing the stability of the systemic foundations. 

CLASS 2: DOES GENDER MATTER TO PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY? Instructor: Jone Martínez - Palacios

Conceptual summary of the class

In this subject we analyze how gender, and other structures of domination (race, social class, age, among others) restrictively influence the democratizing project of citizen participation. 

The session begins by analyzing the divergence that exists, on a normative level, between participatory democracy and a feminist perspective on reality. Until relatively recently, there were two theoretical frameworks that engaged little in dialogue with each other: participatory democracy theory and feminist political theory. However, feminist praxis and democratizing experiences demonstrated from the outset the need to establish a dialogue about the (more or less naturalized) exclusion of oppressed groups from the public sphere. Based on our own practical research, critical analysis of participatory democracy experiences, and analysis of feminist political theory, we examine the ways in which gender, in its objectified and internalized forms, inhibits the democratization sought by participatory practice. 

Following this initial analysis, it is concluded that the question of whether participatory democracy is concerned with gender is insufficient if there is a desire for critical analysis of democratization, and the contributions on intersectionality in matters of citizen participation are analyzed. 

CLASS 3 PRODUCING KNOWLEDGE “FROM BELOW” AND OTHER POLICIES FROM LATIN AMERICA  

Teacher: Alfonso Torres Carrillo 

Conceptual summary of the class 

In Latin America, various knowledge production practices have been developed in conjunction with emancipatory social and cultural struggles, some of which employ participatory methodologies. This session aims to recognize the contributions of some of these research practices to the decolonization of thought and the generation of epistemic and political alternatives to the capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal system of domination. The session's objective is to highlight and evaluate the contributions that have been made. 

Epistemological, ethical and methodological criteria of participatory processes and PAR. 

CLASS 1: PHASES OF A PARTICIPATORY PROCESS WITH SOCIOPRAXIS. STRATEGIC MAPPING WITH ACTOR NETWORKS 

Teacher: Gisela Signorelli and Mariano Suárez 

Conceptual summary of the class 

The stages that characterize a participatory process methodologically oriented from a sociopractical perspective will be presented. This will allow for an understanding of the concept of a participatory process, rather than isolated techniques. There is an initial negotiation with the parties involved regarding the content of the stages and the possible timelines, but the framework is flexible, with different phases ranging from self-diagnosis (with creative feedback) to the execution and monitoring of the planned actions. 

In the second part of the class, the sociogram technique, or strategic mapping of actors and networks, is presented, addressing its usefulness in the context of the self-diagnosis phase. Through a practical example, its characteristics and operational conditions for application are explained, emphasizing its strategic nature for the process and the possibilities generated by working with action sets.

CLASS 2: PARTICIPATORY TECHNIQUES 

Teacher: Izaro Gorostidi 

Conceptual summary of the class 

After understanding and situating participatory methodologies, processes, and their organization, this session proposes exploring and learning about the different techniques that can be implemented in each phase of the participatory process. To this end, we will identify the different dimensions from which the research tools used in developing participatory and community processes are applied. We will then delve into the analysis of various techniques to understand their scope and limitations in each phase of a participatory process. Specifically, we will differentiate between two key moments in any participatory process. On the one hand, the diagnostic phase will be crucial in defining the opening techniques to delineate the discourses, problems, and actors involved in a given phenomenon. On the other hand, the closing phase is structured through the development of the Comprehensive Action Plan. From this perspective, we will present tools for opening the analysis and for closing it in the form of agreements, ranging from techniques such as sociograms, deliberative surveys, flowcharts, future seminars, and so on. 

CLASS 3: CREATIVE FEEDBACK IN PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGIES

Teachers: Antonio Álvarez-Benavides, Luis Arnanz and Néstor García. 

Conceptual summary of the class 

In the cycle or phases of a participatory process, feedback is a central and distinguishing element compared to more traditional research methodologies. It involves addressing both an ethical and methodological commitment. Once a participatory diagnosis has been carried out, following a phase of listening and the application of research techniques aimed at identifying problems, expectations, needs, and potential, it is advisable to provide feedback to the community to present the results of that diagnosis. The ethical component lies in the need to share knowledge since, from the epistemic philosophy of participatory methodologies, knowledge does not belong solely to the researcher or the entity promoting the project. It also belongs to the community that has been involved in its dissemination, from a perspective of epistemic justice. Furthermore, the feedback process also has an important methodological component, as it is necessary to confirm the diagnosis and conclude this phase of the process, thus opening the phase of gathering proposals for participatory planning. This session will address the characteristics, approaches, elements, difficulties and benefits of creative feedback within a participatory process, and will explain techniques and tools for feedback such as the flowchart and the multilemma.

CLASS 1: INSTITUTIONALIZED PARTICIPATION. INTRODUCTION TO SOME MECHANISMS 

Teachers: Rosa Alacio, Gisela Signorelli and Mariano Suárez 

Conceptual summary of the class 

In 1988, the first participatory budget was implemented in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. Since then, thousands of institutionalized participatory processes have spread worldwide, not only allowing citizens to influence budgets but also other public policy developments. Numerous instruments of institutionalized participation exist: community plans, participatory planning, citizen councils, citizen juries, innovation labs, and more. These democratic innovation initiatives improve the quality of democracy by assigning a more active role to citizens in both defining social problems and seeking solutions. We speak of institutionalized participation when it involves spaces regulated by public authorities and their administrations, who solicit citizens' opinions to make decisions or undertake actions regarding a specific initiative. Among the most current and recognized examples are those we will explore in this class: Participatory Budgeting (PB) and innovation labs.

CLASS 2 PARTICIPATION, DEMOCRATIC ROOTS AND EMERGENCE

Teacher: Igor Ahedo 

Conceptual summary of the class 

This session aims to present the various typologies of participation, ordered according to their underlying critiques of democracy. After defining mini-publics, referendums, and participatory budgets as respective expressions of deliberative, direct, and participatory critique, we will focus on identifying the characteristics of collaborative governance regimes. Particular attention will be paid to those that emerge from the grassroots to further the reflection on the relationship between, on the one hand, contestation and disruption, and on the other, democratic deepening. The class concludes by differentiating between the processes of institutionalization and the capacity of these mechanisms to become embedded and take root in democratic cultures.

CLASS 3: MECHANISMS OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY 

Teacher: Alicia Lissidini 

Conceptual summary of the class  

Citizen initiatives and government-sponsored referendums are not new in Latin America or the world. They are practiced by democratic, hybrid, and even authoritarian regimes. However, in recent decades, qualitative and quantitative changes have occurred that explain their greater prevalence, both in law and in practice. Uruguay was a pioneer in Latin America, holding its first referendum in 1917 and its first referendum against a law in 1989. By 2024, a dozen countries included them, and many others regulated mandatory referendums, while most granted the power to call them to the authorities. After reviewing global trends, the class will analyze the different contexts and experiences of recent constitutional reform and the introduction of direct democratic processes in Latin America, focusing on the Uruguayan case, given its enormous relevance.  

CLASS 1: COMMUNITY, PARTICIPATION AND COMMUNITY WORK

Teacher: Leonel Del Prado 

Conceptual summary of the class

Community: definitions, uses, and applications from the social sciences; Community work: histories, objectives, and current perspectives; The current context of community work: neoliberalism, social exclusion, and community work. Community work: dimensions (awareness-raising, mobilization, and organization). The difference between community work and other practices. Possible tasks. Classic texts on working with communities. Methodologies: what not to do. Tips for working.

CLASS 2: COMMUNITIES IN MOTION: TOOLS FOR UNDERSTANDING PARTICIPATORY EXPERIENCES 

Teacher: Víctor Fernández González 

Conceptual summary of the class

An analytical review is made of some specific experiences of community participation, examining how community participation relates to the expansion of democracy and social transformation. 

In this sense, and taking into account the time constraints of the course, the aim is to account for a diversity of experiences that encompass participation with institutions and associations (Fung, 2003a; Ganuza & Francés, 2008), the impact of citizen participation on public policies or the political process (Eberhardt, 2015; Espinoza, 2004; Garrido-Vergara et al., 2016), focusing on processes of citizen participation or mechanisms of direct democracy (Lissidini, 2011; Schneider & Welp, 2015), or on the different ways in which groups, movements, collectives, and grassroots groups organize, plan, and make decisions (Red CIMAS, 2015; Svampa, 2010), incorporating, albeit more tangentially, approaches that articulate research, systematization of experiences, and promotion of participatory processes, such as Participatory Action Research or Sociopraxis (Falck & Paño, 2011; Fals Borda, 1999; Fung & Wright, 2003; Jara, 2018; Salazar, 2015; Vargas et al., 1984; Zibechi, 2007). 

The way to address this broad range of issues will be by relating the experiences to two axes: on the one hand, to the theoretical discussion on participatory democracy (Balderacchi, 2016; Lissidini, 2015; Schneider & Welp, 2015; Fung & Wright, 2003; Villasante, 2017), and on the other hand, to a scale of participation (CIMAS Network, 2015) that links the types of participation with planning approaches, thereby breaking down the usual distinction between processes where participation can be promoted “from above”—that is, by state powers implementing mechanisms of citizen participation or direct democracy—or “from below”—that is, promoted by the citizens themselves, with social movements, grassroots organizations, and activist networks playing a leading role. What is important, however, is to emphasize how the participation of actors relates to the context of local political institutions. 

It is expected, then, that students will learn about experiences and have the tools to understand and improve them. 

CLASS 3: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: PROCESSES OF POLITICAL SUBJECTIVATION AND TERRITORIAL TRANSFORMATION 

Teacher: Mercedes Oraison 

Conceptual summary of the class:  

When we talk about community participation, we are referring to those processes of organization, mobilization, and management promoted by grassroots organizations and social leaders located, generally, in working-class neighborhoods. 

According to Maritza Montero (2003, p. 72) within the framework of such processes, the members of a community "jointly develop capacities and resources to control their life situation, acting in a committed, conscious and critical manner, to achieve the transformation of their environment according to their needs and aspirations, transforming themselves at the same time." 

What distinguishes community participation from other forms of participation is the involvement of local actors who maintain cooperative relationships in pursuit of a common goal. Discussions surrounding community participation, among other issues, are linked to the capacity of the protagonists to generate real transformations through their influence on local political agendas. Within this framework, we can ask: To what extent are self-managed processes functional to the displacement of the State or can they contribute to building citizenship? Can community participation be understood as a way to consolidate, expand, or deepen a “proximity democracy”? (Annunziata, 2008; Schnapper, 2004). The indefinite use of the concept, which turns it into a kind of umbrella under which multiple forms of social convergence are sheltered, has led to the distinction of different degrees of participation (Arnstein, 1969; Hart, 1992; Novella and Trillas, 2001). The class is therefore oriented towards the discussion of the limits and potentialities of community participation based on the analysis of a participatory management experience in a community center in a popular neighborhood of Argentina.

CLASS 1: GENDER, FEMINISMS AND PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGIES FOR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION 

Teacher: Fernanda Palacios 

Conceptual summary of the class  

The leading role of women in community life has a long history and a path of accumulated experience, learning, and knowledge, ranging from self-managed initiatives by social and territorial organizations and grassroots activism within women's and feminist organizations to initiatives developed by organizations, foundations, academic centers, and other civil society organizations and local institutions. This breadth of experiences and contexts presents common challenges that require ongoing conceptual and methodological updates.

The focus of this seminar is to draw on experience working with a gender perspective at the community level, updating conceptual and methodological frameworks to improve the effectiveness and impact of these experiences at the local and community levels. The intersection of a gender perspective, feminist epistemologies, and critical methodological approaches based on participatory methodologies seeks to generate collective knowledge oriented toward transformative praxis and the integration of academic and community knowledge to promote more just, safe, and free territories for the women and girls who live in them. 

CLASS 2: DE(LIBERATION): CLIMATE-DEMOCRATIC CRISIS IN CENTRAL AMERICA  

Teacher: Azucena Morán 

Conceptual summary of the class:  

This seminar proposes an analysis of citizen participation and the deliberative-participatory shift in Central America in the face of the current democratic-climate crisis. We will focus on the contradictions and ambivalences that emerge, for example, from the institutionalization of the right to prior, free, and informed consultation (ILO Convention 169) and the ecological transition. On the one hand, we will examine the criminalization of environmental defenders and Indigenous leaders, attempts to erode autonomous participatory processes, and the technocratic shift/professionalization of collective governance. On the other hand, we will consider the implications of extracting critical minerals for the energy transition and the generation of renewable energy in Central American sacrifice zones.

While the emphasis will be on the current responses of nation-states to the region's climate-democratic crisis, we will also engage in dialogue with the successes of social movements and collective resistance, such as the ban on metallic mining in Panama. The seminar aims to critically analyze the opportunities, limitations, and challenges involved in implementing and replicating participatory and deliberative processes in the face of the current climate-democratic crisis, drawing on regional experiences and histories. We will delve into the climate-democratic crises in the governments of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. Based on this analysis, students will develop the skills to situate diverse experiences of deliberative governance across the region within their social, historical, and political contexts. 

CLASS 3: FACILITATORS IN TERRITORIAL PROCESSES FOR CAPACITY BUILDING. SUPPORT FROM IADT FOR THE DIALOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF TERRITORIES 

Teachers: Romina Rébola and Pablo Costamagna 

Conceptual summary of the class  

From a territorial development perspective, support processes based on action research for territorial development are experiences of dialogue, facilitation, and participation that enable the building of intangible individual and collective capacities for territorial transformation. Through training processes and institutional political dialogue at the territorial level, stakeholders develop capacities for the sustainability of meeting spaces that allow them to address territorial problems and co-create collective solutions, deepening the democratization of territories through dialogue and participation. In this context, the roles of facilitators stimulate and connect the territorial process, generating dynamics of action that empower territorial stakeholders to make decisions. 

From the perspective of Territorial Development, it is vital to facilitate processes that can be carried out by various individuals or teams for the transformation and sustainability of social, political, cultural, and environmental processes in the territory. 

This seminar aims to highlight the role of facilitators in local communities, within the methodological framework of our experience in action research-based support for territorial development. It proposes to share local experiences and reflections on these practices, as well as the importance of certain individual and collective capacities for the democratization of local processes. 

You must be registered in the CLACSO Single Registration System (SUIC) and enter your username and password. If you are not registered, click here . To access the registration form, click the "Register" button on the webpage of the Diploma program you are interested in.

Upon completion of the registration process, you will receive a confirmation in your email.

Classes will begin in April and will conclude in July 2025.

From June 9 to 13, 2025, our 10th Latin American and Caribbean Conference of Social Sciences will take place in Bogotá, Colombia. #CLACSO2025 (more information here ). To ensure everyone's participation, we have planned a break from training activities during that week.

All registered participants will receive on the first day of activities the necessary instructions to access the classes, bibliography and discussion forums through the CLACSO Virtual Training Space.

Accessing and navigating the Virtual Learning Environment is very simple and user-friendly. In any case, a technical and academic support team will always be available. For inquiries, you can write to [email protected]

You must send an email with the request to [email protected] and we will send you the requested certificate as soon as possible.

Exceptional Criteria: In exceptional cases, and within the first 20 days of the start of the Advanced Diploma program, students may write to [email protected] requesting to withdraw and stating the reasons. After evaluation of the case, a response will be sent to the request. If approved, the student may resume the Advanced Diploma program if a new cohort is offered the following year. After this period has elapsed since the start of the course, no requests will be accepted.

Money paid will only be refunded in cases where the organizing institutions decide to cancel the activity. 

Yes, the advanced diploma is certified by CLACSO. The diploma will be sent digitally and is completely free of charge.

Payment can be made in one installment, by credit card or bank transfer. We also offer the option of paying in 3 installments.

Yes. There will be discounts for students belonging to CLACSO Member Centers and CLACSO Associated Centers, for CLACSO Associate Researchers, and for all those who pay within the discount period.

You can check if you belong to a member center here: 

https://www.clacso.org/institucional/centros-asociados/

The Advanced Diploma program integrates a dynamic of asynchronous and synchronous classes. Classes are primarily asynchronous. The schedule for synchronous sessions will be communicated by the Diploma coordinator at the beginning of the program, and participation in these sessions is not a prerequisite for passing the program.