Community Learning Development Resource 500 – 10
PARTICIPATION IN NEIGHBOURHOOD REGENERATION
SUMMARY
Community engagement and ownership are central for effective participation in neighbourhood regeneration. This affects how and why any learning that supports participation is organised, the nature of relationships between providers and participants, and the development of a community learning curriculum. Such considerations are underpinned by a shared, agreed and understood value set.
Values and principles
- The learning should be driven by the needs and aspirations of the people, not the requirements of services, agencies and funders.
- The communities and individual learners becoming involved should be seen as having potential to grow and be successful, not as problems to be solved or managed.
- Learning in the community for neighbourhood regeneration involves developing skills, knowledge, competencies and personal capacity, and is also about encouraging creativity, imagination, trust, experimentation, and risk taking.
- The learning should be based upon negotiation with participants in advance of, during and after engagement.
- Consultation and outreach should incorporate action and feedback, to keep people informed, even if only to explain any difficulties involved in addressing issues or taking action.
- Learning within neighbourhood regeneration aims to achieve transferability – of ownership of the processes and outcomes, of understandings and skills and, ultimately, of the practice to the benefit of local people.
- Learning for neighbourhood regeneration needs to be flexible in its design, delivery and support arrangements regardless of whether it is informal, accredited, or qualification based.
- The preparation and development of learning in this context must take account of the longer-term, of the need for sustained engagement by communities, and should aim to build individual capacity, social capital and community capacity and to embed growth into the work of local networks, coalitions and partnerships.
- Learning in this context is founded on a desire to achieve greater social justice and should be characterised by fairness and respect (in partnerships, between participants and providers) and a willingness to confront prejudice and discrimination.
- Learning for neighbourhood renewal should contribute to more collaborative and coherent approaches to the development of public services – effective participation and co-production.
Prompts for Reflection and Discussion
- What might be part of a community learning curriculum for effective community participation?
- What are the common barriers and hurdles to be overcome for effective community participation?
- Why should we encourage effective participation by the community?