Lately, I find myself thanking God for Mr. Tracy Wilson almost on a daily basis.

Many of you will not know that name or who he was, fewer still will understand the importance of the work he was expertly trained in and how many of the tools and techniques could have been applied to our current situation. Gratefully, I had the opportunity to be mentored by him as he worked on some of the most progressive planning consultancies undertaken since our independence.

Consultation, as it is generally practiced in T&T, is actually just one stage along the spectrum of citizen participation. There are many ways in which people can be engaged in a consultation process. Sherry Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation illustrates the various stages and by their classification in terms of the level of involvement. Each stage is characterised by particular features and has its own methodology for engagement. However, for ANY public engagement exercise to be successful, a few basic elements must exist!

Yes, even consultation has best practices which one would be wise to utilise when initiating these processes. Ultimately, the host must KNOW what is the objective behind engaging with the public. Participatory consultation is a discipline with qualified and experienced practitioners, seek them out and heed their advice. A neutral, qualified and independent facilitator makes the biggest difference between an experience of genuine engagement in which useful data is gathered for distillation and integration and one that seems just to be going through the motions and serves to further frustrate the participants.

Hopefully, we can turn a corner locally with regard to public consultations. After all, the tools, technology, and expertise exist. And when you know better, you should do better.