2. Purpose
The purpose is to clarify the distinction
between Social Impact Assessment (SIA)
and Public Involvement (PI) and make the
case for PI as an integral part of SIA. PI is
seen as a process in and of itself but one
that also provides the SIA practitioner a
means to measure and obtain information
about key social impact assessment
variables.
3. • US federal legislation requiring public
involvement first appeared in the early 60s as a
component of ‘war on poverty’ directives. By the
late 60’s and early 70’s the congress had
attached public involvement requirements to
every significant piece of environmental
legislation. It requires scoping ( much of which
is public involvement) as a key step in the
preparation of environmental and social impact
assessment.
4. Scoping
• “There shall be an early and open process
for determining the scope of issues to be
addressed and for identifying the
significant issues related to the proposed
action. Significant issues are to be
identified and insignificant issues are to be
eliminated from the detailed study, through
consultation with all interested parties.”
5. Distinction b/w SIA and PI
Based on the writings of several SIA practitioners
(Wolf, 1974;Bowles, 1981;Burdge, 2004b; Wildman
and Baker, 1985; and Dietz, 1987), we have identified
five features characteristics of the SIA process.
• SIA is a systematic effort to identify, analyze, and
evaluate social impacts of a proposed project or policy
change on the individual, social groups within a
community, or the entire community- in advance of the
decision making process-in order that the information
derived from the SIA can be used in the decision
process.
6. Continue…
• SIA is a mean for developing alternatives to the
proposed course of action and determining the
full range of benefits and consequences for each
alternatives.
• SIA increases knowledge on the part of the
project proponent and the affected community.
• SIA raises consciousness and the level of
understanding of the community and puts the
residents in a better position to understand the
broader implication of the proposed action.
7. Continue…
• SIA includes within it a process to mitigate
or alleviate possible consequences if the
proposed action is accepted by the
affected community.
8. The Public Involvement Process
• Public involvement (public participation)
refers to the systematic provision for
affected publics to be informed about and
participate in the planning/ decision
processes. The key component is an
effective, open exchange among
proponents, agencies, organizations, and
all interested and affected publics. The PI
process has the potential to benefit both
the project proponent and the community.
9. Continue..
• PI functions as a means of educating the
impacted community as to the potential benefits
and consequences of a proposed action,
alternative courses of action and their respective
impacts.
• PI serves as a means for the community or
larger society to provide input to a proposed
action before a final decision is reached. In
effect, the public becomes part of the planning
and decision making process.
10. Continue..
• PI may function as a catalyst behind community
self-evaluation and analysis leading to
assessments and situations with regard to how
communities cope with change.
• PI function as an on-going-data-gathering tool
for social impact variables. The process may
supply factual information regarding population
change, community/institutional arrangements,
political and social resources, community and
family changes and community resources.
11. Continue….
• PI may be a way of proposing alternatives
to be suggested plan or course of action.
The key assumption being that locals
knows their community better than
outsiders.
13. Identification: Describe Proposed
Action
• The first step is to develop a public
involvement program as part of problem
identification. At this stage the proposed
action and possible alternatives will be
developed. Included will be a plan to
involve the interested and affected publics.
14. Community Profile
• In this stage the assessor determines
which social impact variables are relevant
to the SIA, collects information and
compiles a social profile. We identify and
define 28 SIA variables, provide detailed
reasons why each is important, and
suggest how they might be measured and
interpreted within the context of the
planning process.
15. Scoping
• In this stage the social impact assessors
identifies the potentially impacted public
and their concerns in an attempt to
determine if a full scale social impact
assessment is needed. A community
needs assessment may be part of that
determination.
