INTRODUCTION
Community participation, public participation or participatory planning
are the terms which are used interchangeably but aims at involving
people in the community to get the maximum benefit for the whole
society. Community participation program is about gathering different
views from whoever wants to participate and making people in the city
feel welcome to voice their opinions.
Participatory planning is usually used
by planners to get people to come together on various important issues
faced in a city or to engage rural community. Participatory approach
invites people to community activity that are being conducted by city
planners and people in authority such as those in city councils, state or
government bodies. There are many strategies that are used to bring the
community together and these usually involve research methods being
undertaken by the councils and councillors.
It is not about getting the majority
of the votes, but it is about gathering different views to conclude the best
methods for planners to adopt strategies that fit and prove important for
the community based on what the community prefers.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
DEFINITION
A process by which a community mobilizes its resources, initiates
and takes responsibility for its own development activities and
share in decision making for and implementation of all other
development programmes for the overall improvement of its health
status.
‘a social process whereby specific groups with shared needs living
in a defined geographic area actively pursue identification of their
needs, take decisions and establish mechanisms to meet these
needs’
Ndekha, Hansen et al.
2003
‘involvement of the local population actively in the decision-
making concerning development projects or in their
implementation’
WHITE 1981
‘a process whereby those with a legitimate interest in a project
influence decisions which affect them’
(Eyben and Ladbury
1995)
AIMS OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
• The community develops self-reliance
• The community develops critical awareness
• The community develops problem solving skills
(1) The community develops self-reliance
Social self-reliance refers to the
ability of a community to function with a level of cohesion, social
accountability and mutual dependence-taking decisions, mobilising
resources, and building and maximising interpersonal capacity to
address issues and initiatives for mutual benefit.
(2) The community develops critical awareness
A true critical awareness, in
itself, is not sufficient to bring change in the form of
positive community development. It is the responsibility of each
individual, and thus the community, to make sense of the issues by
integrating new ideas with previous knowledge and experience.
(3) The community develops problem solving skills
Through participation
in Community Problem Solving, students refine critical and creative
thinking skills, focus on a real community or school issue,
produce solution ideas, generate criteria to evaluate solution ideas,
determine the best plan of action, and implement the plan to resolve
their problem.
TYPES OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Seven types of community participation (adapted from Pretty 1994 and
Cornwall 1996)
1,Manipulative participation (Co-option): Community participation is
simply a pretence, with people's representatives on official boards who
are unelected and have no power.
2. Passive participation (Compliance): Communities participate by
being told what has been decided or already happened. Involves
unilateral announcements by an administration or project management
without listening to people's responses. The information belongs only to
external professionals.
3. Participation by consultation: Communities participate by being
consulted or by answering questions. External agents define problems
and information gathering processes, and so control analysis. Such a
consultative process does not concede any share in decision-making, and
professionals are under no obligation to take on board people's views.
4. Participation for material incentives: Communities participate by
contributing resources such as labour, in return for material incentives
(e.g. food, cash). It is very common to see this called participation, yet
people have no stake in prolonging practices when the incentives end.
5. Functional participation (Cooperation): Community participation is
seen by external agencies as a means to achieve project goals. People
participate by forming groups to meet predetermined project objectives;
they may be involved in decision making, but only after major decisions
have already been made by external agents.
6. Interactive participation (Co-learning): People participate in joint
analysis, development of action plans and formation or strengthening of
local institutions. Participation is seen as a right, not just the means to
achieve project goals. The process involves interdisciplinary
methodologies that seek multiple perspectives and make use of systemic
and structured learning processes. As groups take control over local
decisions and determine how available resources are used, so they have
a stake in maintaining structures or practices.
7. Self -mobilisation (Collective action): People participate by taking
initiatives independently of external institutions to change systems. They
develop contacts with external institutions for resources and technical
advice they need, but retain control over how resources are used. Self-
mobilisation can spread if governments and NGOs provide an enabling
framework of support. Such self-initiated mobilisation may or may not
challenge existing distributions of wealth and power.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT
• In this type of participation, the community is involved in all aspect of
a programme. This type of approach enables the community to
participate willingly to improve its own health status.It is important for a
community to participate in every stage of the health programme for it to
have long lasting results i.e., thinking, planning, acting and evaluating.
• Community participation and involvement empowers or enables the
community to make informed decisions in matters affecting their health
or development
INVOLVEMENT
This entails involving the community in planning,
implemention,management and evaluation of programmes.
This is important because, it contributes towards a feeling of
responsibility and involvement in such a programme.
In other wards we could refer to the process as that by which active
partnership is established between a developmental programme
within the community and the community itself. Thus community
participation and involvement contributes to the attainment of
community responsibility and accountability over all development
programmes. Therefore preventing a community from alienating
itself from such a programme. The community develops self-
reliance and social control over its own infrastructure.
Diamensions of community participation
Community participations has three dimensions;
• Involvement of all those affected in decision making about what
should be done and how
• Mass contribution to the development efforts i.e to the implementation
of decision
• Sharing in the benefits of the programme (World Bank, 1978).
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN DIFFERENT
SITUATIONS
• Top-down – approach
• Bottom-up – approach
TOP-DOWN – APPROACH
• IN traditional approach health care planning , the decisions are made
by senior persons in health services, the so called “experts”. Research
may be carried out through surveys to what the community thinks or
believes to be the problem, but in the end it’s usually the health workers
who makes the decisions on what goes into the programme based on
medically-defined needs.
. • Traditional education is often indoctrinating .We make decisions and
expect them to follow. This is always the case and you will need to look
carefully to findout what is really going on. All the decision-making and
priorities are set by the external agency.
BOTTOM-UP – APPROACH
• In this approach members of the community make decisions.
FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE THE DEGREE OF
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION POSITIVELY
o Relevance and accountability
o Education status of the community
o Community infrastructure (including communication network)
o Economic factors
o Social and cultural factors
o The level of intersectoral collaboration
o Suppression of involvement and initiative by projects which create
dependency
o Political stability
o Good leadership
o Motivated community
o A sense of ownership
o Locally available resources
NEED FOR A COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Drawing on local knowledge
Making programmes locally relevant and acceptable
Developing self-reliance, self confidence, empowerment and
problem solving skills
Better relationship between health workers and community
Primary health care
Drawing on local knowledge
Communities often have detailed knowledge about their surroundings. It
makes sense to involve communities in making plans because they know
local conditions and the possibilities for change.
Making programmes locally relevant and acceptable
If the community is involved in choosing priorities and deciding on
plans, it is much more likely to become involved in the programme and
take up the services.
Developing self-reliance, self confidence, empowerment and
problem solving skills
The enthusiasm that comes from community participation can lead to a
greater sense of self-reliance for the future e.g. communities are usually
willing to participate in water a programme because they see that
benefits will come. The feeling of community solidarity and self-
reliance from participating in decisions over, their own future through a
water project can lead to future activities.
Better relationship between health workers and community
Community participation leads to a better relationship between the
community and the health workers instead of a servant master
relationship, there is trust and partnership.
Primary health care
The Alma-Ata declaration on PHC in 1978extended the notion of
appropriate health care beyond that of simply providing
decentralized services, it also considered the need to tackle
economic and social causes of ill-health.
Health education and community participation are essential
ingredients of PHC (WHO).
One of the four principles of primary health care are from
community participation,
1. Self-reliance and sustainability:
2. 2. Overcoming cultural barriers to healthcare
3. Better communication with the community:
4. 4. Community can provide labour and even financial resources
for healthcare if needed
TYPES OF COMMUNITY GROUPS
SELF-HELP GROUPS
• Run by people for their own benefits e.g. co- operatives, church
saccos etc
PRESSURE GROUPS
• A group of self-appointed citizens taking action on what they see to
be the interests of the whole community putting on pressure to
improve the school, get garbage collected, do something about a
dangerous road etc.
TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
• These are well established groups, usually meeting the needs of a
particular section of the community, others rotary, club, mothers
union parent- teacher associations, and church groups. E.g Njuri
Njeke in (Meru),
WELFARE GROUPS
• Exist to improve the welfare of a group; merry go round, feeding
programmes etc.
CONCLUSION
Community participation can be loosely defined as
the involvement of people in a commu- nity in projects to solve their
own problems,
Community participation is especially
important in emergency sanitation programmes where people may be
unaccustomed to their surroundings and new sanitation facilities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Book reviews
• Kamalam.S. Essentials of Community Health Nursing Practices.
2nd edn. Jaypee Brothers. New Delhi 2005.
• Suryakantha.A.H. Community Medicine with recent advances ,
Jaypee Brothers medical Publishers.
• Stanhope M. Lancaster J. Community Health Nursing, The C V
Mosby Company D.C, Latest Edn.
Journal reviews
Community participation in health services development,
implementation, and evaluation: A systematic review of
empowerment, health, community, and process outcomes,
Victoria Haldane Fiona L H Chuah , Aastha Srivastava , Shweta R
Singh , Gerald C H Koh , Chia Kee Seng1, Helena Legido-Quigley 1,
Published online 2019 May
10. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216112,
Internet reviews
https://www.slideshare.net/collinschimuti/community-
participation,retrived on 30 july 2015
https://planningtank.com/planning-theory/community-
participation,retrived on 16 sep 2020
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/community-
participation,retrived on may 12
