Understanding local political participation

Community Matters has commissioned IVAR to undertake a research programme to understand and explain the contribution of community-run multipurpose voluntary organisations to maintaining and building good levels of formal and informal political participation. The research will focus on Community Matters members in those neighbourhoods which score strongly on the index of multiple deprivation, but which are in Local Authorities which had relatively good or above rankings for participation and related social capital indicators in the 2008 Place Survey.

Community Matters members are engaged in a wide variety of activities relevant to their local communities: from street festivals to youth parliaments; from local meetings on safety, crime and planning to providing space for farmers markets and environmental education as well as the direct delivery of services from childcare to elderly support. In many of these settings Community Matters members are often working at the less organised and resourced end of the community. These activities may be undertaken with high volunteer involvement, few paid staff and a self-help orientation beyond the radar of many professional workers. Understanding the contribution of these activities, the physical space members provide to other organisations, and the networks they foster will be an important part of this research. 

Community Matters and IVAR will identify eight case studies to explore the contribution those members make to the levels of formal or informal political participation in their area. Community Matters want to take an approach consistent with their community development goals, and for the research carried out with their members to be of interest and use to them. To this end, IVAR will adopt a collaborative approach to the project, working closely with the Community Matters and the case study organisations. Community researchers will be recruited and trained in each of the eight areas to undertake significant aspects of the research. Using this approach the intention is that the research is owned by the case study organisations and is of relevance to current and future activities. One expected outcome of this project is that the case study organisations will explore opportunities for future research work with their community researchers, with a view to developing a research resource in their locality.

The project will begin in May 2010 and run through to March 2011. A final report drawing together the findings from all the case studies and description of the process of engaging and working with community researchers will be produced by March 2011.

For further information on the project contact Dr Mike Aiken at IVAR (mike@ivar.org.uk) or Rosie Anderson at Community Matters (rosie.anderson@communitymatters.org.uk)

Community Matters is the National Federation for Community Organisations. Community Matters currently have over 1,200 member organisations across the UK and have been supporting community associations and similar organisations since 1945.