Key Elements of Participation
The list of elements of participation provided below is not exhaustive. A proponent of
participatory development is encouraged to add to, merge, or modify this list. Note also that
some of the elements of participation may be categorized as principles of participation.
When one is measuring the quality of participation, these elements act as indicators of the
quality of participation the more of these elements are present in a participatory situation the
better the quality of participation.
1) Participation: authentic participation occurs when the community participates in all
aspects of the development project including all aspects of monitoring and evaluation
of the project, such as choosing indicators and analysing data. The role of the
facilitator is to ensure that a suitable environment is created in which all feel that they
can actively participate.
2) Mutual Respect: all stakeholders in a development process should develop a
relationship that facilitates participation by all. By respecting one another’s views
stakeholders can work towards a mutual goal.
3) Joint Decision-Making: All stakeholders should participate in decision-making.
Decisions should not be made elsewhere and imposed on some stakeholders.
4) Negotiation: stakeholders negotiate what is perceived as a problem, what strategies
will be adopted to solve the problems and how performance of an effort to solve the
problem will be monitored and evaluated; and how and when data will be collected
and analysed, what data mean and how findings will be shared and action taken.
5) Shared learning: Participation and negotiation lead to collective learning, ownership
and investment in key findings by those most able to use the results for corrective
action.
6) Flexibility: Since the purpose of participatory process is improved learning for
improved results, leading to ongoing change and adaptation, flexibility is essential.
Rigidity in what is considered appropriate ideas and practices does not create a
platform for learning nor does it facilitate negotiation.
7) Empowerment: the process of gaining information, knowledge and skills that leads
to taking action to overcome constraints to personal and social development.
8) Involvement of a range of stakeholders: when multiple stakeholders work together
to develop indicators, they also clarify expectations and priorities, negotiate a more
common framework, build ownership of outcomes and ensure that the assessment
reflects principles of partnership.
9) Consideration of social differentiation: Social differentiation relates to the
influence of different backgrounds and differing viewpoints according to a persons
background or status. Different social groups such as women, the youth, vegetable-
growers and livestock farmers may have different viewpoints regarding an issue such
as location of a water point. Collecting from a single social group can give you an
incomplete picture. The complete picture can only be acquired through collecting
information from all social groups.
10) Triangulation: Information on a development project must be gathered from all
stakeholders, using various data collection methods such as combining observation
and questionnaires; and combining various forms of information such as records
(secondary) and directly collected information from fieldwork (primary) and
quantitative and qualitative forms. Triangulation means that there are multiple
sources of information, multiple methods of collecting the information and multiple
forms of information.
11) Consideration of power differentials: People’s power to participate often depends
on their socio-economic background. Power differentials or differences affect how
much 'voice' different groups have. Unless special efforts are made to include the
viewpoints of marginalized groups, their viewpoints are likely to be excluded. But full
participation cannot be achieved if the concerns and opinions of more vulnerable
sections of the society are not included. In a program or project designed to benefit
poorer people it is particularly important to include voices of poorer groups in the
development effort.
12) Mutual Accountability: Stakeholders must be accountable to each other through
sharing responsibility for successful performance of the development program or its
failure or any other negative consequences
