What works in assessing community participation?

This report documents the results of the road testing of two frameworks for assessing community participation: Active partners: Benchmarking community participation in regeneration (Yorkshire Forward, 2000) and Auditing community participation: An assessment handbook (The Policy Press, 2000).

The report examines whether the tools were useful, what worked most effectively and how the tools might be amalgamated on the basis of what was learned from the road testing.

The practical difficulties involved in using the tools are also explored.

The lessons learned have enabled the production of a new companion handbook for development and assessment, Making community participation meaningful, which combines and develops the original frameworks.

This report will enable users of the handbook to understand the practical issues they will face when applying the new assessment framework.

Both the report and the handbook are essential reading for community activists, public sector practitioners, regeneration managers, teachers and academics.