Community Participation Methods

EELO UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
Program:
Masters in Project planning &
Management
Course unit: Community Participation
Methods - Module 1
Module objectives
i. Comprehend the meaning of community

participation
ii. Understanding the types of community
participation
iii. Study how community participation works
iv. The importance of community participation in
planning, problem solving and policy making?
v. To study ways of Community participation
facilitation
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION DEFINED
This is a process by which a community
mobilizes its resources, initiates and takes
responsibility for its own development
activities and share in decision making for
and implementation of all other
development programmes for the overall
improvement of its development
position.
See next slides
1. Manipulative participation (Co-option)
Community participation is
simply a presence, with
people's representatives on
official boards who are
unelected and have no
power.
2. Passive participation (Compliance):
Communities participate by being
told what has been decided or
already happened. Involves unilateral
announcements by an administration
or project management without
listening to people's responses. The
information belongs only to external
professionals.
3. Participation by consultation:
Communities participate by being
consulted or by answering questions.
External agents define problems &
information gathering processes, and so
control analysis. Such a consultative
process does not concede any share in
decision-making, & professionals are
under no obligation to take on board
people's views.
4. Participation for material incentives:
Communities participate by
contributing resources such as
labour, in return for material
incentives (e.g. food, cash). It is very
common to see this called
participation, yet people have no
stake in prolonging practices when
the incentives end.
5. Functional participation (Cooperation)
Community participation is seen by
external agencies as a means to achieve
project goals. People participate by
forming groups to meet predetermined
project objectives; they may be involved
in decision making, but only after major
decisions have already been made by
external agents.
6. Interactive participation (Co-learning)
People participate in joint analysis, development of
action plans and formation or strengthening of local
institutions. Participation is seen as a right, not just
the means to achieve project goals. The process
involves interdisciplinary methodologies that seek
multiple perspectives and make use of systemic and
structured learning processes. As groups take
control over local decisions and determine how
available resources are used, so they have a stake in
maintaining structures or practices.
7. Self -mobilization (Collective action):
People participate by taking initiatives
independently of external institutions to
change systems. They develop contacts with
external institutions for resources & technical
advice they need, but retain control over how
resources are used. Self-mobilization can
spread if governments & NGOs provide an
enabling framework of support. Such self-
initiated mobilization may or may not
challenge existing distributions of wealth and
power.
How community participation works
The importance of community participation in
planning, problem solving and policy making?
1.Participation is important for a

healthy representative democracy.
Involving citizens in decisions that
affect them locally is one way to
renew public trust & return credibility
and legitimacy to all levels of
government.
While participation has long been part of the
tradition of planning, we continuously need
to find new ways to actively engage citizens in
decision making, and part of this process is
helping citizens understand the role they can
play in deciding their own futures. In other
words, citizens come to understand they have
a contribution to make, and therefore
become full participants in the process,
rather than waiting to see what programs and
services they will receive for their tax dollars.
A carefully constructed participation
program encourages an open exchange of
information and ideas. This requires that
planners consider alternate opinions,
especially those of underserved or
underrepresented minority, low income,
elderly, and disabled populations.
Together the participants establish a
collective vision for the future, and share
responsibility for problems as well as their
solutions.
Collaborative problem solving
generally can be accomplished
with less confrontation and fewer
hurdles, since participants
understand what opportunities are
available and also whatever
resource or other constraints must
be considered.
Involving citizens also
assures that the solutions
(and possibly some very
creative or unconventional
solutions) are tailored to
local needs.
State planning enabling
legislation often
provides for public
input regarding land
use & other decisions.
Ways of Community participation
facilitation
by stressing the benefits to be gained.
This will work only so long then the
benefits must become obvious. The
intangible benefits as well as the tangible
should be emphasized. These are
frequently omitted and are, by far, the
true gains of community action.
by adopting online participating
model, The Internet facilitates
sharing of the key ingredient of
participation – information – to
assist vision formation, informed
decision-making, scenario-
building and the like.
with an appropriate organizational
structure available for expressing
interest. This may require organizing a
more neutral group than may be in
existence in a community. However, in
some situations, existing groups are
adequate. Situation judgment is required
by persons with appropriate experience
and competency.
by helping citizens find positive
ways to respond when their way-of
life is threatened. Most people want
to act responsibly. Use these
situations to help people find
positive ways to deal with
threatening predicaments.
by stressing the commitment or
obligation each of us have toward
improving the community.
However, people will not continue
to participate unless the experience
is rewarding, or at least not too
distasteful.
In crisis situations have long been
successfully used as a basis for gaining
citizen participation. Crises should not be
invented but, if they exist, they become
powerful motivation. The closing of a
major plant, closing of a school, loss of
train service, and a major drug problem
are examples of threats to a people’s way-
of-life that have served as rallying points
for citizen participation.
END OF MODULE 1
#THANK YOU#

Community Participation Methods

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What are the different types of community participation?

What is community participation defined as?

EELO UNIVERSITY

i. Comprehend the meaning of community

1.Participation is important for a

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