Guide: Auditing Community Participation: an assessment Handbook

Developed for engagement in community regeneration in the UK, Auditing Community Participation looks at ways of assessing levels of community involvement in area regeneration initiatives.

The report provides tools and appraisal exercises for measuring:

• the history and patterns of participation;
• the quality of participation strategies adopted by partners and partnerships;
• the capacity within partner organisations to support community participation;
• the capacity within communities to participate effectively;
• the impact of participation and its outcomes.

The report has a systematic approach to assessing levels of community participation and uses a variety of audit tools to assess extent and quality of dialogue, debate and learning among those involved in the partnerships. It includes a simple diagram of the partnership process and a useful set of aspirational indicators across five levels or areas of measurement with associated tools.

A companion volume evaluating current levels of community involvement, Reflecting realities: Participants’ perspectives on integrated communities and sustainable development, is also available.

Read the Background and Full Report

More guides to evaluating engagement can be found in the Mesh Guides to Evaluating Engagement resources category.To see how this resource fits in with the rest of Mesh's evaluation resources, and to learn how to navigate them, visit the Mesh evaluation page.