Some points to conclude this e-training unit:
- In this unit we have approached participation as a complex process, with no preconceived recipes. However, it is possible to analyse it and identify potential obstacles and levers.
- You have seen the examples of levers used by two associations, which do not have the same publics or the same ways of doing things. Some of the questions can be transposed to your own projects, for example: taking into account the temporality of the project, the daily presence, the planning of the end, the idea of encouraging sharing between peers, the exchange, the multiplicity of spaces covered, the use of existing spaces (appropriate place, absence of a place, etc.), or the idea of allowing a professional to be influenced by the people he/she works with.
- “Getting people to participate” is not without challenges, as it can be perceived as an obligation despite the fact that time and conditions may not be suitable for everyone. Participation may also be stated as a goal but doesn’t imply real power for the participants. It may allow the participation of certain people, but not those with no ties with the institutions, with the risk of always involving the same people. This objective, which was initially emancipatory, may then recreate symbolic violence.
- This same risk of symbolic violence exists in any project as soon as an actor becomes involved in a project, a group of people, or a neighbourhood where she or he does not originally belong. It is therefore important to take into account this risk and to question our own representations beforehand, and during the whole process.
You can now evaluate yourself!
Place your own cursor on different concepts discussed during the sequence.
And there you have it, you’ve been through our entire unit!
Thank you for taking part of the European module on youth participation.
If you liked it, do not hesitate to go and see the other countries units on the issues of co-construction, educated hope or youth participation and youth work.
