A 'meditation' on meaningful participation

Abstract

Community engagement and participation have become buzzwords in the fields rural community and economic development.  This meditation focuses on their relevance in the context of the transformations that ICTs bring, with particular attention to health and wellbeing. The anaylsis addresses several dimensions –the stages of projects, the ladders of participation, the ownership dimension, stakeholder identification, the conditions that enable collaboration, and the convening and facilitation- which constitute elements of a framework to critically reflect on the meaning of community engagement and participation. The major achievement of the ‘participation’ phenomenon has been the creation of spaces and places for interaction.