Consultation is participation

Consultation is now a required element of regeneration initiatives, as well as being integral to the provision of many public services, such as those provided by the police, local authorities, or organisations serving the voluntary and community sectors. The proliferation of consultation exercises has unfortunately lead to a sense of 'consultation fatigue'. This is perhaps not so surprising when you consider that the nature of the consultation is often such that it does not draw the respondent into a greater degree of understanding or a sense of ownership.

Community Viewfinders have been carrying out consultation exercises - beyond simply ticking boxes - with a wide variety of participants: local people, learning-disabled adult users of daycare facilities, service providers, entrepreneurs. In all such exercises, we choose a format for the consultation which will increase the sense of ownership of the participants, and provide a greater depth of qualitative information. We especially take an interest in applying the principles of so-called Participatory Appraisal, essentially a range of innovative techniques to ensure that the benefits of the exercise go well beyond the mere gathering of crude quantitative data.

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