Realising Participation

This title was first published in 2001: During the last twenty years government rhetoric in the UK has increasingly advocated that statutory health and social care services should regard and treat recipients as 'consumers' in the same way as companies and organizations in the private sector. This involves a considerable cultural change on the part of both service providers and their clients, and this timely study explores the extent to which such a cultural change is actually taking place in British society. The utilization of welfare services by a sample of people aged 70 and above on discharge from inpatient care and in a short period afterwards is examined as a critical testbed for key components of consumerism, including participation, representation, access, choice, information and redress. The book explores not only the extent to which opportunities are being provided for users to play an active role in their care, but also their degree of willingness to assume such a role. By investigating the experiences of clients from a generation which might be considered relatively resistant to a more active participation in health and social care, the study offers an important insight into the extent to which a real social transformation is indeed taking place in the British welfare services.

This new edition of A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation brings together work from research and practice to reflect on some of the key developments in the field since the first edition published in 2010. Subtitled ‘Conversations for Transformational Change’, the collection focuses on both ongoing and new discourses that enable us to advance thinking and practice to better understand what it means for participation to be transformational. Featuring all new content, it explores the developments that have been achieved in theory and practice in the last decade as well as the challenges and, indeed, the limitations of dominant participation approaches with children and young people in achieving genuine societal transformation. A key feature of the Handbook is the inclusion of young people as co-authors in many of the chapters. Foregrounding aspects of participation as experienced by diverse groups of children and young people, the book especially illuminates the experiences and perspectives of participation relating to groups of children who face particular challenges, such as displaced children and children living with disabilities and young people from indigenous groups in a range of contexts. The broad spectrum of debates that the text covers will be invaluable in challenging and transforming thinking and practice for a wide range of scholars, practitioners, activists and young people themselves. It will additionally be suitable for use on a wide range of courses including childhood and youth studies, sociology, law, political studies, community development, development studies, children’s rights, citizenship studies, education and social work.

This volume brings together papers from academics and practitioners on specific issues related to mobile participation in the context of development, originally presented at the fourth conference on Mobile Communications for Development (M4D 2014). M4D research focuses on understanding the use of mobile technologies and services, and how they directly or indirectly address socio-economic challenges. In development, participation suggests that stakeholders can partake in the processes that will benefit them, and this concept has been much-studied by scholars who sought to understand its meaning and contribution to development. Mobile participation, on the other hand, has not received as much scholarly attention. The core question the book addresses is: In what ways do mobile technologies enable, enhance, and perhaps even effect, civic participation in everyday life? The contributions to this collection provide empirical evidence and further analyses of the opportunities and limitations of what this book refers to as mobile participation in development in areas ranging from literacy, health, media production and digital inclusion to governance (water management), as well as privacy. They show that simpler devices such as basic phones offer higher degrees of participation, depending on the existing infrastructure and the social frameworks within which the technologies are employed.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the only UN treaty to date in which the people who are its target, that is disabled people, were actively involved in its drafting and the only one which requires the active participation of disabled people in its implementation. This does not, of course, automatically guarantee the direct participation of all disabled people. This is especially so for children with disabilities, whose status as legal minors may inhibit them from participating in decisions affecting their lives. This book focuses on the participation rights of the disabled child with regard to health, education, homelife and relationships, highlighting ways in which these rights are safeguarded and promoted throughout the EU, as well as exploring the factors that put these rights at risk. Finally, this groundbreaking text analyses whether disabled children’s needs for assistance in order to realise their participation rights results in fewer opportunities to participate or in an increase in support in order for them to be able to do so.

This book examines how interprofessional collaboration and service user participation are challenged in multi-agency meetings, demonstrating how collaborative and integrated welfare policy is contingent on the interactional practices of professionals and service users and providing examples of best practice.

This book demonstrates how human rights obligations of the EU foreign constitution can be operationalized in the realm of international economic regulation. The content is divided into three major parts. The first outlines the legal foundations needed for the EU to become a shaper of international investment law, which include the general principles and objectives of EU external policies, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, international human rights and the international investment competences of the EU. The second part demonstrates the current international investment regime’s incompatibility with human rights interests, while the third analyzes two mechanisms stemming from trade Law – ex-ante human rights impact assessments and civil society monitoring bodies – and explores whether they could mitigate the current inequalities in the protection of rights. The potential of these mechanisms, the book argues, lies in their capacity to ensure a comprehensive assessment of all interests at stake, and to empower traditionally marginalized rights-holders to make, shape and contest the international investment regime.

Stakeholder or public participation has become something of a modern mantra employed in all sorts of contexts to give people a voice. There are many variants on this 'participation' but traditionally they all share a desire to maximise involvement and provide desired 'outputs' of a required quality as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Difference tends to be reduced and compromise encouraged as the outputs or even just the appearance of participation are emphasised. This book explores the large and diverse range of participatory methods currently in use, examines the problems and gaps in these methods and sets out an innovative new methodology which overcomes these shortcomings. Uniquely, this method builds from the assumption that it is not just the outputs that matter in participation - it is also the journey. 'Triple Task' is designed to help groups explore their current situation and develop a path by which they can improve their functioning and ultimately make a positive contribution to the lives of others. The book includes in-depth case studies of Triple Task in action across a range of contexts and countries, with particular focus on an EU project concerning indicators in policy-making. This new approach can be used in any context and with any sort of group to help them produce more informative 'outputs' in which a deep reflection of how the group works is allied to an analysis of how problems can be solved.

In order to make justice work, participation and reconciliation is needed within and between societies, peoples, and nations. In this compilation, authors—senior academics as well as students-- from Bethlehem University, Israel, and the Catholic University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany, contribute to this important field. Thus, to some extent, the book in itself is an example of the subjects it deals with.

This book examines claims that the Olympic Games are a vehicle to inspire and increase mass sport participation. It focuses on the mass sport participation legacy of the most recent hosts of the summer Olympics, including Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo. It is organised by host city/country and applies an analytical framework to each, addressing the socio-political context that shapes sport policy, the key changes in sport policy, the structure and governance of community sport, the Olympic and Paralympic legacy, and the changes in mass sport participation before, during, and after the Games. The book is important reading for students, researchers, and policymakers working in sport governance, sport development or management, and the sport policy sector.

Participation in Children and Young People's Mental Health: An Essential Guide aims to break down the historical challenges surrounding children and young people's mental health (CYPMH) participation. It explores topics from how to conceptualise participation to more practical advice and guidance surrounding how to 'do' participation. Uniquely edited by Experts-by-Experience, it offers useful insights to how participation ought to be led from those with experience in the field. This ground-breaking text is supported by contributors from leading experts, including a mixture of lived experience and academic persepctives, providing a comprehensive dive into key concepts and practical examples to help improve practice. The chapters aim to spark thinking, conversations, and actions in participation and will provide lessons to embed into services, organisations, areas, groups, practice, and work. This text is an essential guide for trainees and professionals working in CYPMH services which includes the NHS in England, voluntary sector, and other health systems internationally.

Public Participation in Transport in Times of Change discusses various forms of public participation in connection to sustainable mobility, transport planning, policy, health, infrastructure, and active travel, creating a comprehensive analysis relevant for both practitioners and researchers who operate within the transport field.

This book presents a model for reforming and developing Indigenous related legislation and policy, not only in Australia, but also in other jurisdictions. The model provides guidance about how to seek, listen to and respond to the voices of Indigenous children and young people. The participation of Indigenous children and young people, when carried out in a culturally and age-appropriate way and based on free, prior and informed consent, is an invaluable resource capable of empowering children and young people and informing Indigenous related legislation and policy. This project contributes to the emerging field of robust, ethically sound, participatory research with Indigenous children and young people and proposes ways in which Australian and international legislators and policymakers can implement the principle of children’s participation by involving Aboriginal children and young people in the development of law and policy pertaining to their lives. This book provides accounts from Aboriginal children and young people detailing their views on how they can be involved in law and policy development in the future. It shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, legislators, and students in the fields of human rights law, children’s rights, participation rights, Indigenous peoples’ law, and family, child and social welfare law.

This book explores the human rights principle of participation and the human right to participation. The work presents an argument that international human rights law imposes obligations to enable participation, and demonstrates that it has been interpreted in this way by authoritative bodies. Divided into four parts, Part I provides the historical and theoretical background. Part II presents the argument that a right to participation and a human rights principle of participation exist in international law and Part III argues that human rights law, and the way it has been interpreted, can provide a coherent account of the content of such a right and principle. The conclusions of the book and their implications are explored in Part IV. While there have been several studies of specific forms of participation, such as collective bargaining, this study provides a coherent account of the meaning and application of participation in international human rights law as a whole. The book will be an invaluable resource for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the area of international human rights law.

This book provides a state-of-the-art assessment of citizen participation practice and research in the United States. With contributions from a stellar group of scholars, it provides readers an overview of a field at the heart of democratic governance. Individual chapters trace shifts in participation philosophy and policy, examine trends at different government levels, analyze technology/participation interactions, identify the participation experiences of minority populations, and explore the impact of voluntary organizations on this topic. A five-chapter section illustrates innovative cases. Another section explores the role of various methodologies in advancing participation research. The scope, depth, and timeliness of the coverage fills two voids in the public administration literature. First, the book provides a unique collection of articles for graduate courses in citizen participation and democratic governance. The volume also offers an excellent compendium for researchers who are at the frontline of participation research and practice.

Giving a comprehensive empirical account of the recent student protests in the UK, this book develops our understanding of the social and political pathways to protest participation and non-participation in contemporary society

Issues of access, social exclusion and widening participation dominate educational policy agendas and are a shared global challenge. Participation in higher education and adult lifelong learning activities can be a life-changing experience that opens up new opportunities. However, access remains unequal. People from lower socio-economic backgrounds, those living in the most deprived areas and people from minority ethnic groups are underrepresented. In this book, we focus on how we can move the field of widening participation forward, paying specific attention to the theories and methods we can use to better understand and tackle the problem of underrepresented groups in post-compulsory education, and how individuals and institutions can be supported. We argue that in order to make sense of these issues, it is important to engage in both the findings of widening participation research and the theoretical foundations which underpin them. This way, alternative perspectives on the widening participation agenda and emerging research and policy can be explored from alternative perspectives. This book was originally published as a special issue of Studies in Continuing Education.