Blog by Callum Etches + Ben Messer, May 2024
Food Matters turns 20 in 2024. In celebration of our anniversary, we are exploring what participation means to us and how we use it within our food systems work, over a series of blogs and videos.
Participation is what we’re about at Food Matters. When we bring people together we make sure we really listen to them, understand their perspectives, and ensure that any action reflects their experience. This is because we believe that lasting and meaningful change is more likely when the people who will be affected by change participate in deciding what the change should be. This is the model of participation we’ve been working with for the past 20(!) years.
However, when you’ve been doing something for this long, you can start to assume that people understand what you’re talking about, and you stop explaining and defining it. An experience many of us will be familiar with if we’ve ever sat down to try and read an academic, jargon-heavy paper!
So, in the name of being truly participatory, we’re breaking down what we mean when we talk about participation. We sat down with Ben and Callum, our engagement and participation officers, and asked them to give us (in simple terms) their answers to the questions below.
What is participation?
Food Matters Action Learning (photo by Andy Aitchison)
At its core, participation is about providing a platform for people’s voices – making it easier for people to hear each other and learn from each other’s experiences. We start from the point of view that people are experts in their own lives, and that meaningful, long-lasting and positive change is more likely when this experience provides the basis for decisions that affect them. Participation doesn’t just happen – its about delivering processes through which we can understand people’s perspectives. It’s about providing spaces for people to share their experiences and voice these perspectives, and it’s our job to hear them, really work to understand them and ensure that they are captured and shared with others.
Participation is also about learning from one another. It’s about groups of people working together to understand different perspectives, deliberating on them, agreeing, and disagreeing with each other, and reaching a point of mutual understanding.
Why is it important?
We live in a time where many are able to shout about their views. Whether that be on social media, or in the streets, we are fortunate enough to be able to voice our perspective. What we are lacking is a way of listening to one another and working to understand each other’s points of view. Participatory processes help to provide not just a space for voicing one’s own perspective, but also one for listening and understanding others. Our experience shows that once we are able to really listen to others, we are able to gain an understanding as to why someone feels and acts in the ways they do. That doesn’t mean we all necessarily agree, but it does provide a foundation for understanding, compassion and a way to develop a common purpose.
We also live in a world that is dominated by the opinions of experts. All too often the lived experiences of everyday people are underprioritized, while the views of experts are treated as gospel. Expert opinion is important, but people’s lived experience can help enrich it by providing context and real-life perspective. Participation allows us to broaden our knowledge, providing decision makers with a more well-rounded understanding of the problems they are seeking to address.
What does good participation look like?
Getting participatory processes right is critical. If we get it wrong, we risk ostracising people further. Nothing is more disheartening than being invited to participate, only to feel like you weren’t heard and your opinion ignored – that your time was wasted. This requires careful consideration of the problem you are looking to address and the people you are looking to engage. It involves asking the right questions, and providing a safe, comfortable, and supportive environment to explore responses to them. Our approach always starts with the participants in mind. What will work for them? Where will they be comfortable, and how can we ensure they feel supported? Doing this well means being flexible with our approach, tailoring our methods to the participants and their needs.
An Action Learning Set organised and facilitated by Food Matters (photo by Andy Aitchison)
Good participation also means ensuring that participants feel that their involvement is meaningful. This means making sure that participants know why they are being included and what it is they are influencing. It also means making sure that the views of participants are accurately recorded, and that these views are meaningfully considered within decision-making processes.
Good participation is also about working hard to include voices that might be seldom heard. This involves careful consideration of who needs to be included and working hard to ensure that they are. We do this by going to where people are: the places in which they are comfortable or are already likely to be as well as not taking their participation for granted, even if that means compensating people for being involved. We also think about what they need to participate – childcare considerations may need to be factored and times changed accordingly, or sessions simplified to accommodate people with English as a second language. We also take access needs into account when planning an event. This is a huge topic and we are only scratching the surface of it here, but this involves considering the physical accessibility of a venue, as well as whether there are hearing loops, how the sound travels, or whether there is a quiet space for people to go to.
Why is facilitation important?
Good participation requires good facilitation. This involves ensuring that all participants feel comfortable voicing their perspective, ensuring that no one voice dominates and that everyone is able to participate in a way that works for them. It’s also about asking the right questions, encouraging people to reflect on their own perspectives and consider those of others. Doing this well requires facilitators to be flexible, responding to the needs and wants of the room and being prepared to adapt planned approaches where needed. It also requires documenting what’s being said. Good facilitation is not just about listening, but also recording perspectives, so that they can go on to be documented and evidenced within any future decision making.
Read more about our consultation, facilitation, and evaluation services here to get a sense of the ways we use participatory processes. Get in contact with us here if you’d like to collaborate together on a participatory project.
Blog by Callum Etches + Ben Messer, May 2024
Food Matters turns 20 in 2024. In celebration of our anniversary, we are exploring what participation means to us and how we use it within our food systems work, over a series of blogs and videos.
Participation is what we’re about at Food Matters. When we bring people together we make sure we really listen to them, understand their perspectives, and ensure that any action reflects their experience. This is because we believe that lasting and meaningful change is more likely when the people who will be affected by change participate in deciding what the change should be. This is the model of participation we’ve been working with for the past 20(!) years.
However, when you’ve been doing something for this long, you can start to assume that people understand what you’re talking about, and you stop explaining and defining it. An experience many of us will be familiar with if we’ve ever sat down to try and read an academic, jargon-heavy paper!
So, in the name of being truly participatory, we’re breaking down what we mean when we talk about participation. We sat down with Ben and Callum, our engagement and participation officers, and asked them to give us (in simple terms) their answers to the questions below.
What is participation?
Food Matters Action Learning (photo by Andy Aitchison)
At its core, participation is about providing a platform for people’s voices – making it easier for people to hear each other and learn from each other’s experiences. We start from the point of view that people are experts in their own lives, and that meaningful, long-lasting and positive change is more likely when this experience provides the basis for decisions that affect them. Participation doesn’t just happen – its about delivering processes through which we can understand people’s perspectives. It’s about providing spaces for people to share their experiences and voice these perspectives, and it’s our job to hear them, really work to understand them and ensure that they are captured and shared with others.
Participation is also about learning from one another. It’s about groups of people working together to understand different perspectives, deliberating on them, agreeing, and disagreeing with each other, and reaching a point of mutual understanding.
Why is it important?
We live in a time where many are able to shout about their views. Whether that be on social media, or in the streets, we are fortunate enough to be able to voice our perspective. What we are lacking is a way of listening to one another and working to understand each other’s points of view. Participatory processes help to provide not just a space for voicing one’s own perspective, but also one for listening and understanding others. Our experience shows that once we are able to really listen to others, we are able to gain an understanding as to why someone feels and acts in the ways they do. That doesn’t mean we all necessarily agree, but it does provide a foundation for understanding, compassion and a way to develop a common purpose.
We also live in a world that is dominated by the opinions of experts. All too often the lived experiences of everyday people are underprioritized, while the views of experts are treated as gospel. Expert opinion is important, but people’s lived experience can help enrich it by providing context and real-life perspective. Participation allows us to broaden our knowledge, providing decision makers with a more well-rounded understanding of the problems they are seeking to address.
What does good participation look like?
Getting participatory processes right is critical. If we get it wrong, we risk ostracising people further. Nothing is more disheartening than being invited to participate, only to feel like you weren’t heard and your opinion ignored – that your time was wasted. This requires careful consideration of the problem you are looking to address and the people you are looking to engage. It involves asking the right questions, and providing a safe, comfortable, and supportive environment to explore responses to them. Our approach always starts with the participants in mind. What will work for them? Where will they be comfortable, and how can we ensure they feel supported? Doing this well means being flexible with our approach, tailoring our methods to the participants and their needs.
An Action Learning Set organised and facilitated by Food Matters (photo by Andy Aitchison)
Good participation also means ensuring that participants feel that their involvement is meaningful. This means making sure that participants know why they are being included and what it is they are influencing. It also means making sure that the views of participants are accurately recorded, and that these views are meaningfully considered within decision-making processes.
Good participation is also about working hard to include voices that might be seldom heard. This involves careful consideration of who needs to be included and working hard to ensure that they are. We do this by going to where people are: the places in which they are comfortable or are already likely to be as well as not taking their participation for granted, even if that means compensating people for being involved. We also think about what they need to participate – childcare considerations may need to be factored and times changed accordingly, or sessions simplified to accommodate people with English as a second language. We also take access needs into account when planning an event. This is a huge topic and we are only scratching the surface of it here, but this involves considering the physical accessibility of a venue, as well as whether there are hearing loops, how the sound travels, or whether there is a quiet space for people to go to.
Why is facilitation important?
Good participation requires good facilitation. This involves ensuring that all participants feel comfortable voicing their perspective, ensuring that no one voice dominates and that everyone is able to participate in a way that works for them. It’s also about asking the right questions, encouraging people to reflect on their own perspectives and consider those of others. Doing this well requires facilitators to be flexible, responding to the needs and wants of the room and being prepared to adapt planned approaches where needed. It also requires documenting what’s being said. Good facilitation is not just about listening, but also recording perspectives, so that they can go on to be documented and evidenced within any future decision making.
Read more about our consultation, facilitation, and evaluation services here to get a sense of the ways we use participatory processes. Get in contact with us here if you’d like to collaborate together on a participatory project.
