We have produced 2 more summaries for our literature review Understanding participation. These are:

• Briefing paper 3: Who participates? The actors of participation
• Briefing paper 4: Why participate? Understanding what motivates people to get involved

Both are also available in our resources section, where you can also download our first 2 briefing papers:

• Briefing paper 1: What is participation? Towards a round-earth view of participation
• Briefing paper 2: What are the drivers of participation? Participation in context

Early January we published ‘Understanding participation: A literature review’ and said we would be producing several short summaries on different aspects of the review. The first 2 summaries are now available for download:

• Briefing paper 1: What is participation? Towards a round-earth view of participation
• Briefing paper 2: What are the drivers of participation? Participation in context

Both are also available in our resources section, along with a number of other documents (newsletter; project outline etc.)

Our project looks at participation in a very broad way, and covers a wide range of participatory activities that are often viewed in isolation. This broad approach to participation has informed our literature review, which is now available for download.

The review brings together different bodies of literature on participation, including literature on community development, volunteering, public participation, social movements, everyday politics and ethical consumption. It looks at the historical and current drivers of participation, the activities and actors of participation and different theoretical approaches that contribute to a better understanding of participation. It closes with our emerging ‘participation framework’ that we aim to further develop and refine in the subsequent stages of the project.

We are currently producing some short summaries on different aspects of the review. These will be uploaded on the website as soon as they are completed.