What is it?
Community Involvement has become a very fashionable term. Together with terms such as participation, consultation and partnership it is used by many people without a real understanding of what it means.
It is only when people start to look closely at community involvement in practice that we start to really appreciate what it means. Some people may see it as occasional contact with community members to check that they are happy with services being provided. We see it, as a more radical approach to development which sees community members involved in decision making, during project design and management. This approach requires many people to completely change the way that they approach their work.
The different ways of approaching community involvement can be classified according to how much power is given to community members. The table below may help you to decide at which level you would like to involve community members.
|
self-help |
community members take the initiative to take action on their own. If they get assistance from authorities it will only be for advice or resources, which they will control |
|
partnership |
community members and
outside experts plan design and take decisions together.
|
|
consultation |
committee members are consulted by the outside authorities who listen to their views. The outside experts then decide what the problem is and how it should be solved. All decisions are made by the outsiders. |
|
information giving |
local people participate
only by being told what is going to happen or has already happened. It is
an announcement by project management without listening to people's
responses.
|
adapted from Arnstein (1966)
Once you have decided at which level you would like to work you can then start to look at different methods. The methods listed on this website are best used for approaches at the higher levels of the ladder of participation.