Participation sometimes is contextual, thus depending on different circumstances….however it involve capacity and awareness creation to the communities to capitalize on the available opportunities.

I’ve just explored the idea a little more over here in this post.

Thanks for the comments. It’s definitely tricky to find a clear definition of participation (I’m not sure that’s due to it being a heavily contested term… rather an over-used and too-broad term – yet one I’m still keen to extract some meaning from.)

Reflecting on Mike’s comments, I think I’m drawn towards drawing up an explanatory dichotomy between:

Participation as personal

and

Participation as political

The reflections run as follows:

‘Participation as personal‘ is about people. It is about building a stronger society through equipping people to act keeping their individual autonomy and the needs of the community in a creative tension. It is about providing meaningful structures that allow individuals to direct their energies. It builds the social structure from the participation on individuals.

‘Participation as political‘ is the democracy-focussed side, concerned with getting the best decisions. Concerned with establishing better social structures to support people as individuals and as members of communities to better-achieve self-development

At this point (while I realise I can’t escape my constructivist tendencies) it seems that these are two approaches (from opposite sides) to one goal (big moral import here I’m afraid…): ‘better’ communities where individuals can achieve greater self-development.

Ok – so before I wonder off onto a philosophical tangent – back to the key question:

If participation is part of ‘old fashioned community work’ (or at least shares the same aims) – is it worth talking about it distinctly at all?

I think so. Participation in practice brings it’s own methodologies and practices to the table – and puts a stress on different aspects of the community development toolkit.

Not all that is called participation does this well, nor is there one coherent discipline in participation – but I think there certainly is a unique contribution brought by ‘participation people’. And I’ll see what I can do about making that case a bit further in future blog posts…

Where I see real value in youth participation is in the structure & focus that it gives to work with young people – something sorely missing in the generic youth service & although participation work plays only a small role in the wider youth services I think it will increasingly become more significant.

Through the focus on helping young people effectively participate in society I think there are amazing opportunities to help young people develop hugely valuable skills & qualities, and by ensuring this there really is a possibility to build a stronger society. Unfortunately the personal development aspects tend to be overlooked in favour of the issues’ or the ‘mechanics.

I agree with all your ‘five’ but for me personally its about just one. . . . people !

Great to have you back blogging!
Laura