Conversation cards for meaningful participation
How can you achieve meaningful participation in your project? Based on six themes – context, dialogue, diversity, deliberation, impact and evaluation – this set of conversation cards helps you explore what meaningful participation means in your project. A practical tool for reflection and making informed choices. At the moment the set is only available in Dutch.
About this set of cards
This set of discussion cards is a tool to help design a participatory process. Here, we take a broad view of participation: as taking part in someone else’s initiative. The cards provide an overview of aspects relating to the context, the process and the evaluation of a participatory process. The cards are intended as a first step in setting up a process, but they can also be used for reflection during or after the process has concluded.
Based on the underlying framework, we define meaningful participation as: participation that takes the unique context into account, whereby conscious choices are made regarding the process. This process is appropriately structured with a focus on Dialogue, Diversity, Deliberation and Impact. To prevent token participation, there is transparent communication regarding the degree of influence – which is tailored to the wishes of stakeholders, within the limits of what is feasible for the process. The process aims to contribute to (climate) justice.
By raising many questions, the cards facilitate discussion about what meaningful participation means for your process. However, the set does not offer ready-made answers – every participation process requires a bespoke approach. The intention is that using the cards will lead to more conscious choices regarding the participation process.
Contents
The complete set consists of six subsets: Context, Dialogue, Diversity, Deliberation, Impact and Evaluation, based on the 4D framework for participation (Perlaviciute, 2022). Spread across these subsets are 26 discussion cards. Each subset contains one or more example cards, which illustrate a theme using a real-life case study. The cards also include references to other resources and literature, which can serve as a starting point for further steps on a particular theme.
Who are they for?
The cards are intended for anyone involved in fostering meaningful participation. From civil servants to entrepreneurs to citizens who are actively committed to their neighbourhood or local area. For example, the cards could be used to prepare for participation in local projects, to organise a citizens’ consultation, or when setting up citizens’ initiatives.
For further information, see page 4 of the PDF.
Download cards
Would you like to give the conversation cards a go too? You can download the set for free by clicking the button below.
Credits
This set of maps was funded by the Dutch Climate Research Initiative (KIN) as part of the KIN’s ACT work programme.
The maps were produced by: Bram Burgerhof and Goda Perlaviciute (University of Groningen)
Design: Paul Kooi (100pk)