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Pathways through Participation

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Pathways through Participation is a major research project exploring how and why people get involved and stay involved in different forms of participation in their communities and beyond.

Website: http://www.pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk
Members: 20
Latest Activity: Oct 11, 2011

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Introduction to the Project

Pathways through Participation is a joint research project being led by NCVO in partnership with the Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) and Involve. Each organisation has a history of researching the different forms of participation being explored in this project. The project has been funded by the Big Lottery Fund through its Research Grants programme. It is a 2.5 year project, which commenced in April 2009.

What are we studying?

The research project is exploring how and why people get involved and stay involved in different forms of participation in their communities. It aims to increase knowledge of people's pathways into participation and of the factors that shape this over time. We are looking at participation in a very broad sense, including activities such as volunteering, being a member of a local community group, purchasing fair-trade goods, attending a PTA meeting, acting as a representative on a local strategic partnership, responding to a consultation and voting. Rather than just focusing on one of these forms of participation, it is exploring how people get involved in all these different ways during the course of their lives.

The research has focused on the following four questions:

How and why does participation begin, and continue?
Can trends and patterns of participation be identified over time?
What connections, if any, are there between participation in different forms of activism and what triggers movement between them?
How can policy-makers and practitioners enable and encourage different individuals and communities to participate in activism?

For more information on the project and to access papers so far you can visit the Pathways website:http://www.pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk/ or alternatively, please contact Tim Hughes at tim@involve.org.uk with any specific queries.

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Comment by Lorna Prescott on October 11, 2011 at 9:14: Hi Tim
I've only read your summary report to date, but thought it was really good and useful, and the presentation is great. I will be looking at the full report, along with some colleagues, as we'd like to use it to inform thinking for Our Society in Dudley Borough activity, which I hope will build on Take Part active citizenship work and community influence activity I've been involved in. I also recommended your reports at our recent Community Engagement Network event and on our related blogsite: http://engagingtogether.org.uk/2011/09/16/pathways-through-particip...
Thanks for sharing :-)

Comment by Tim Hughes on October 6, 2011 at 22:27: The Pathways through Participation final report is now available from the project website.

Comment by David Wilcox on March 23, 2011 at 19:28: The Leeds workshop report is fascinating - thanks! It is a very rich mix of issues highly relevant to big society and our society.
I wonder if you or someone else who attended could pull out a strong recollection or impression as a conversation starter for those of us who weren't there. And thanks for bring this across to Our Society

Comment by Tim Hughes on March 18, 2011 at 15:46: Tell us what you think!

So far we've held learning and action workshops in two out of three of our field work areas: Leeds and Suffolk. Next week we're going to Enfield, before we return to Leeds the week after. These are great opportunities for us to discuss and get feedback on our research, as well as develop local actions to encourage participation. But Our Society gives us a great opportunity to take the debate on line as well, and to widen the discussion to others. So whether you are attending our workshops or not, we want your views!

What does participation mean to you? How and why do you participate? How can participation be encouraged? Should it be encouraged?

What do you want to know? What do you think to the research? What are the implications of the emerging findings for you, your organisation and your area? What challenges and opportunities do they present?

Let us know what interests you. What you agree or disagree with. Challenge, provoke and/or encourage us. Share examples of interesting projects. Let's start a conversation about participation!

Comment by Tim Hughes on March 15, 2011 at 18:29: You can find a report of the first Pathways Learning and Action Workshop in Leeds here.

Comment by Tim Hughes on March 11, 2011 at 15:35: We had a few issues with the Prezi presented in Leeds, but it's now been restored! So here it is:

What creates and sustains active citizenship? on Prezi