The Community Planning Website is based on Nick Wates' excellent Community Planning Handbook. It shows how a variety of participation methods can be used in different scenarios which range from disaster management to village revival. The site offers checklists and templates as well as general principles and resource listings.

NRM\_Changelinks is “a practical guide to web resources to help people seeking to develop sustainable change in the way we manage our natural resources” compiled by Willy Allen. It has a wealth of links including many on facilitation, tools, techniques, and participatory approaches.

Participation framework and tools The International Association for Public Participation offers several useful frameworks and tools including a Spectrum of participation (inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower) and a toolbox suggesting what techniques to use when. The spectrum is similar to the framework in the Guide to Effective Participation.

Smarter partnerships The UK Local Government National Training Organisation's site offers a toolkit for local government and its partners. This includes a partnership health check, review of learning and skills needed by partners and other useful tools. More resurces are linked from consultants Educe who produced the kit. These include…

Five vital lessons …for partnerships that want to create local jobs and development the local economy. Create the conditions; think strategically; take stock to unblock; enable not disable; facilitation skills count.

Active Partners: Benchmarking Community Participation in Regeneration This is a tool, developed for the Yorkshire Forward regional development agency, to help partnerships evaluate progress towards genuine community involvement and ensure that the benefits of their work get to the people who need them most. Available for download from this page.

Connor Development Services

Consultant Dr Desmond M. Connor shares over 20 years experience of what works and what doesn't in public consultation and conflict resolution.

Our partnership Development of this UK site has been led by the Civil Service College Directorate, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation to create “a community for individuals, networks and organisations interested in learning more about making partnerships work.” A five stage partnership lifecycle - connecting, contracting, conflict, collaborating, closing - is used to organise much of the material for an online course.

For recent research commissioned by the UK Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions on public participation in local government see http://www.local.detr.gov.uk/research/particip.htm

The Tenant Participation Advisory Service http://www.tpas.org.uk provides news of publications, events, training and consultancy services.

Renewal.net is being developed by the UK Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Unit to provide to provide an independent, evidence based view of what works and what doesn't in neighbourhood renewal. The 'how to' section has material on building partnerships and working in partnership.

Back to Partnerships and Participation.