Take Part
The Take Part Pathfinders Programme aimed to support community leadership and active citizenship education. The programme was designed so that it could support improvement against National Indicator 3 (civic participation in the local area – narrowing gaps between groups in order to raise involvement of disadvantaged sections of society) and National Indicator 4 (people feeling that they can influence decisions in their locality).
The Take Part pathfinder programme was evaluated on behalf of the Department of Communities and Local Government. A range of evaluation tools were developed to assist pathfinders and regional champions to self evaluate and workshops on evaluation were carried out across the country.
An evaluation of the National Support Programme, aimed at promoting and developing the Take Part approach across the country, was conducted alongside the evaluation of Take Part pathfinder programme.
Findings show that the programme promoted active citizenship and learning through:
- bespoke activities developed with or by local people in response to their own needs and concerns, such as accredited and non-accredited learning programmes, workshops, one-off sessions and events
- an emphasis on learning through experience, reflection and action
- providing supportive environments for people to discuss and critically reflect upon social and political issues, network, and learn from one another
- empowering local people to have an influence once they have engaged with official structures
- helping public agencies reflect on their own practice, making them more open to citizen and community influence.
The final evaluation report of the Take Part programme has been published.
For more information please contact Sarah Golden on 020 7812 5438 or sarah.golden@cdf.org.uk.
