Participation, moving from rhetoric to practice and action

There is so much participation-speak to be found these days in the language and statements from a range of international organisations and bodies. However there is a considerable gap between this 'language of participation' and how well it is put into practice. There are as many bad examples of participation as there are good examples and there are a range of reasons for this from a lack of political will and commitment to real change through participation to poor learning and understanding of what participation actually means and involves and which is translated into poor practice. Many individuals and organisations believe that they can quite simply bring about significant change through participation without proper analysis of what participation is and how it challenges the status quo or current power structures. Quality participation requires quality learning and training and sadly this is an area largely neglected although there are some useful initiatives that have significantly improved the learning and teaching of participation.

With this in mind we have pulled together what we think is a useful range of resources and links that examine 'what is participation' and how the practice and action of action of participation can be improved. This resource can be found here and maybe useful in exploring ways and mechanisms for improving youth participation.