From childhood poverty to catfish: A conceptual participatory modelling framework for strategic decision making

Strategic decision makers are frequently faced with unstructured problems that cannot be solved adequately by analytical means. In such situations, a better decision-making approach is one based on stakeholders¿ participation. A particular form of such an approach is known as participatory modelling, whereby participatory methods are used for knowledge elicitation while simulation modelling techniques are used to determine optimal strategies. In this paper, the authors discuss a participatory modelling framework using agent-based modelling and System Dynamics, which illustrates the use of the framework for two projects. These projects include participatory agent-based modelling of childhood poverty in Vietnam, and participatory System Dynamics modelling of the Vietnamese catfish industry.