Title: Summary
Course: Level 3 - Health Education and Promotion > Section: Community participation

In this Study Session, you have learned that:

- The concept of community participation involves individuals, or community has taking part in decisions which affect them or their community's health status.
- The community could be defined as organised groups of people who share a sense of belonging, beliefs, norms, and leadership and who usually interact within a defined geographical area.
- Community participation is defined as "Members of a community taking part in determining, planning, developing, implementing and evaluating programs and actions which affect their lives and the life of their community."
- We may say communities are participating when they are actively involved in the following activities:
  - The assessment of the situation/needs.
  - Problem identification.
  - Priority setting and making decisions.
  - Sharing responsibility for the planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation.
- Community participation has many benefits in the development of successful community-based health education and health promotion programs. Some of them are the following:
  - It facilitates successful program development and implementation.
  - Ensure community motivation.
  - Help in developing locally acceptable strategies.
  - Ensure program sustainability.
- The principles of community participations are the following:
  - Develop a clear goal.
  - Understand community's socio-cultural and political condition.
  - Establish good relationship.
  - Recognise and respect community diversity.
  - Identify and use the community's assets.
  - Community participation aims at improving health status.
  - Give appropriate feedback and recognition.
- The stages or phases in creating meaningful community participation process are the following:
  - Initiation.
  - Planning.
  - Designing.
  - Implementation and
  - Maintenance.