Active Learning for Active Citizenship: participatory approaches to evaluating a programme to promote citizen participation in England

Just as the notion of participatory approaches has been subjected to questioning and criticism, so has the more specific notion of participatory approaches to monitoring and evaluation. There are parallel possibilities of tokenism and even of manipulation, here, just as there are parallels around the need for more critical reflection and dialogue. Even if not actually manipulative, participatory evaluation can involve little more than the occasional use of particular techniques from a participatory toolkit. This article draws upon our experiences of evaluating a participatory programme to promote active citizenship in England, starting from our shared commitment to achieve more than this. Building upon principles and experiences of best practice, the aim was to use participatory principles ‘in order to democratise social change’ (Cousins and Whitmore, 1998.7), addressing the challenges of putting participatory principles into practice right from the outset, through to the completion of the final report. We begin by summarising key arguments from previous debates. This sets the context for the discussion of our case study, as evaluators of this particular programme. Finally, we conclude by reflecting upon our experiences of working with some of the tensions inherent in the processes associated with participatory monitoring and evaluation, identifying similarities with as well as differences from Kate Newman’s conclusions, on the basis of her experiences in the global South

Identity, Life History and Commitment to Welfare

Using detailed extracts from two life histories, this article examines the nature of the personal identifications that often underpin the commitment of welfare workers to their jobs. We explore the paradox that it is those identifications such as class and gender, mediated through individual biography, that fix the ‘self as object’ and that also provide us with the resources for self-transformation. In this respect, the article not only throws light upon the psychical and emotional roots of commitment to the other, but also upon some of the impasses ‘identity theory’ currently finds itself in

Global Citizens: Social Movements and the Challenge of Globalization

The dawn of the twenty first century has been accompanied by an upsurge of anti-capitalist campaigning, challenging the very basis of the New World Economic order. This book sets out to explore the lessons from these experiences of social mobilization. How can non-governmental organizations, community based organizations and the labor and trade union movement develop effective campaigning alliances--without becoming institutionalized and incorporated themselves? How can they balance immediate gains and longer term strategies for transformation? How can they gain media attention without losing control of the message? And how can social movements develop organizational forms that are genuinely representative and democratically accountable, globally? Mayo explores these questions through case studies, and concludes with lessons for building global challenges to neo-liberal agendas and developing more transformative approaches

Active Learning for Active Citizenship Evaluation Report

Professor Marj Mayo and Dr Alison Rooke of Goldsmith's University evaluated the Active Learning for Active Citizenship programme, which ran from 2004-2005. 7 regional hubs tried out a variety of approaches to citizenship learning for adults. The results include increased confidence and skills in tackling local issues with services providers among groups such as migrant works, Asian women, people with learning disabilities and their carers, and others in disadvantaged and hard to reach communities