Where are you on the ladder of participation? The Ladder of Participation can provide you with a means of evaluating the quality of engagement with communities and individuals.
| Participants have the idea, setup project and invite staff to join with them in making decisions. | Participant initiated, shared decisions with adults |
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| Participants have the initial idea and decide how the project is to be carried out. Staff are available but do not take charge. | Participants are directed |
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| Staff have the initial idea but participants are involved in every step of the planning and implementation: their views are considered and they are involved in taking the decisions. | Staff initiated, shared decisions with participants |
Degrees of Participation |
| The project is designed and run by staff but participants are consulted. They have a full understanding of the process and their opinions are taken seriously. | Consulted but informed |
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| Staff decide on the project and participants volunteer for it. Staff respects their views. | Assigned but informed |
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Tokenism |
Participants are asked to say what they think about an issue but have little or no choice about the way they express those views or the scope of the ideas they can express. | |
| Non - Participation | Decoration |
Participants take part in an event but they do not understand the issue. |
Manipulation |
Participants do or say what staff suggest they do, but have no real understanding of the issue, or have been asked what they think. Staff use some of their ideas but do not tell them what influence they have had on the final decision. |
(Adapted from: Roger Hart's Ladder of Participation, Tokenism to Citizenship)