Step 1 - Description of social choice problem and context

Method:

  • You can refer here to the “Outline for reports on case studies” document for EJOLT, if you have started to document it.

From Part 1 of thedocument “Narrative description of the case study”, you can take context information (“Background”, bullet point 3, “Description of the project”, bullet point 1).

You must then reflect on the social choice problem created by the project or activity considered. Information from “The conflict” part of the same page of the Outcome document should be useful.

Remark on the notions of conflict and social choice:

In the Outline document, cases are described as “conflicts”, which is not necessarily the case your EJO wants to assess. In the sustainability assessment framework, “social choice” problems are a broader category, which includes but is not limited to open conflicts. The latter characterises the expression of the problem by society and its different components. Focusing on the “social choice problems” can help EJOs concentrate on the problem and its components. The latter includes its stakeholders, the issues, and the options for solution.

For more insight on social choice, go to the Evaluation module of Brocéliande, and to the entry “social choice” of the Environmental Economics glossary:

Suggestions for reading materials are found online and will be offered by REEDS on a case-by-case basis

Advice from REEDS:
The REEDS team can help you express your case in terms of social choice problem. If you have begun to fill in the Outline document, we can review it together, to help you extract the categories needed within the Integraal framework (step 1, 2 and further).

You should try to make sense of the information above first, but it is a positive step to contact the REEDS team when you start this exercise.

Output:
A presentation of the case study in terms of social choice.