Participatory Assessment As a Tool for Exploration and Transformation of Youth Participation from a Community Perspective: The Case of L'hospitalet De Llobregat (Catalonia)

This paper presents the process and the results of the participative assessment which is part of 4 years research “Social cohesion, culture and participation: action research in the city of Hospitalet de Llobregat” (I+D EDU2013-46704-R).

The participative assessment is built on theories that conceives neighborhood as a basis for communitarian relationships, in particular for youth. At the same time, neighborhood is understood as a context and key actor –composed of entities, social agents and civil society– to develop new ways of integration and social cohesion. The participative perspective allows the implication of the involved actors as a motor of the communitarian transformation.

The aims are: 1/ to explore the participation level of the youth who live in the three chosen neighborhoods, 2/ to identify contexts, places and ways of participation, 3/ to give the voice to youth and social entities, and 4/ to move forward to a citizenship model in which social basis was included in the communitarian process for the making decisions process.

The data-collection sources are: neighborhood context reports, sociogram which social entities and relevant specialists in the neighborhood took part and survey about interests and perceptions of youth.

Some results are: comprehension map of social services, relevant actions and entities to understand participation patterns of youth, contextualization report of the neighborhood at territorial level and as a social agent, and visibility of resources and participation ways as an opportunity to develop general actions in order to promote participation of youth in the territory.