Community Participation

Question 1

What is community?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Spatial dimensions of ommunity?

Answer 2

Could be a street, township or
village
- Emphasizes geography

Question 3

Social dimensions of community?

Answer 3

1. Interests
2. Issues or concerns
3. Interactions
4. Identification and belonging

Question 4

Elements of community?

Answer 4

1. Locus or geography
2. Sharing
3. Action
4. Ties
5. Diversity
6. Divisiveness
7. Leverage
8. Responsibility
9. Pluralism

Question 5

Importance of community participation?

Answer 5

1. Improves quality
2. Improves relevance
3. Improves effectiveness
4. Overcomes powerlessness
5. Improves self-esteem

Question 6

4 main perspectives of power?

Answer 6

1. Pluralist
2. Elite
3. Structural
4. Post-structural

Question 7

Plurist?

Answer 7

• There are competing interests
• Groups and individuals
• Capacity to compete [winners
  and losers]
• Teach people to compete within
  the rules

Question 8

Elitist?

Answer 8

• Self-perpetuating elites control
• Ownership and control of dominant
  institutions
• Join or influence the elite
• Confront and seek change

Question 9

Structural?

Answer 9

• Stratified according to dominant
  forms of structural oppression [race,
  tribe, gender]
• Exercised by dominant groups
• Liberation, fundamental change
• Challenge oppressive structures

Question 10

Post-structural?

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

Community empowerment?

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Assumptions about community participation?

Answer 12

Is always beneficial
Is easy
Is always preferred by the
community itself

Question 13

Principles of participation?

Answer 13

*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

Question 14

Forms of community participation?

Answer 14

*Priority setting
*Feedback and evaluation
*Service design
*Membership on management boards
*Volunteer work
*User advocacy
*Complaints
*Self-help care

Question 15

Participation can be?

Answer 15

*Commenting on policies or plans
*Participating in consultations
*Participate in needs assessment
*Participation in pressure groups

Question 16

Types of participation?

Answer 16

*Participation as a means
*Participation as an end

Question 17

Participation as a means?

Answer 17

*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

Question 18

Participation as an end?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Elements of Personal Empowerment?

Answer 19

*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

Question 20

Who participates?

Answer 20

Women and other minorities
often excluded
*Involvement of the poor

Question 21

Elements of supportive communities?

Answer 21

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).

Question 22

Positive ourcomes of citien engagement?

Answer 22

*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

Question 23

Negative outcomes of citizen engagement?

Answer 23

*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