Community Participation Flashcards
What is community?
a group of people with diverse
characteristics who are linked by
social ties, share common
perspectives, and engage in joint
action in geographical locations or
settings
Spatial dimensions of ommunity?
Could be a street, township or
village
- Emphasizes geography
Social dimensions of community?
- Interests
- Issues or concerns
- Interactions
- Identification and belonging
Elements of community?
- Locus or geography
- Sharing
- Action
- Ties
- Diversity
- Divisiveness
- Leverage
- Responsibility
- Pluralism
Importance of community participation?
- Improves quality
- Improves relevance
- Improves effectiveness
- Overcomes powerlessness
- Improves self-esteem
4 main perspectives of power?
- Pluralist
- Elite
- Structural
- Post-structural
Plurist?
- There are competing interests
- Groups and individuals
- Capacity to compete [winners
and losers] - Teach people to compete within
the rules
Elitist?
- Self-perpetuating elites control
- Ownership and control of dominant
institutions - Join or influence the elite
- Confront and seek change
Structural?
- Stratified according to dominant
forms of structural oppression [race,
tribe, gender] - Exercised by dominant groups
- Liberation, fundamental change
- Challenge oppressive structures
Post-structural?
- Defined through constructed meanings
- Language, knowledge accumulation
- Exercised through control of discourse
and construction of knowledge - Change the discourse
- Develop new subjective understanding
- Liberating education
Community empowerment?
Community empowerment as a process along a
dynamic five-point continuum representing
progressively more organized and
broadly-based forms of:
1. collective and social action;
2. personal action;
3. small mutual groups;
4. community organizations;
5. partnerships; and
6. social and political action.
Assumptions about community participation?
Is always beneficial
Is easy
Is always preferred by the
community itself
Principles of participation?
*Participation means partnerships
*Accepting uncertainty
*Participation means organizational change
*Must be supported by leadership
*Must be built bottom-up
*Use well developed ‘people skills’
*Dialogue and trust essential
*Use multiple strategies to engage
Forms of community participation?
*Priority setting
*Feedback and evaluation
*Service design
*Membership on management boards
*Volunteer work
*User advocacy
*Complaints
*Self-help care
Participation can be?
*Commenting on policies or plans
*Participating in consultations
*Participate in needs assessment
*Participation in pressure groups
Types of participation?
*Participation as a means
*Participation as an end
Participation as a means?
*Means to achieving set objectives or goal
*Less concern with participation
*More concerned with results
*Emphasis of rapid mobilization
*Participation solely for implementing
program
*Involvement is abandoned after program
completes
Participation as an end?
Participation as an end in itself
*An intrinsic feature of an organization or
community
*The process is slow and painful
*Achievement of project goals may not
always be possible
Elements of Personal Empowerment?
*Improved status, self esteem and cultural
identity
*The ability to reflect critically and solve problems
*The ability to make choices
*Increased access to resources
*Increased bargaining power
*Legitimization of people’s demands by officials
*Self-discipline and the ability to work with others
Who participates?
Women and other minorities
often excluded
*Involvement of the poor
Elements of supportive communities?
The presence of
appropriate knowledge
and skills;
Opportunities for critical
dialogue and debate;
A sense of individual and
collective ownership of the
problem and responsibility
for contributing to its
solution;
A sense of solidarity
amongst group members
Confidence in the existence
of individual, group and
community strengths
which could be mobilised
to fight the problem;
Strong links with potential
support agencies in the
public and private sector
outside of the community
(bridging or linking social
capital).
Positive ourcomes of citien engagement?
*Increased civic and
political knowledge
*Greater sense of
empowerment and
agency
*Increased capacities for
collective action
*New forms of
participation
Deepening of networks
and solidarities
*Greater access to state
services and resources
*Greater realization of
rights
*Inclusion of new actors
and issues in public
spaces
*Greater social cohesion
across groups
Negative outcomes of citizen engagement?
*Increased knowledge
dependency
*Disempowerment and
reduced sense of agency
*New capacities used for
negative purposes
*Tokenistic or captured
forms of participation
*Increased horizontal
conflict and violence
*Lack of accountability and
representation in
networks
*Denial of state services
and resources
*Social, economic and
political reprisals
*Violent or coercive state
responses
*Reinforcement of social
hierarchies and exclusion
