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.

It also explores the practical difficulties involved in using the tools. A companion handbook for development and assessment, Making community participation meaningful, combines and develops the original frameworks, drawing on the lessons learned from the road-testing. This report will enable users of the handbook to understand the practical issues they will face when applying the new assessment framework.