Conclusions for Social Capital Sensitive Participation Methodologies Part of 2004 Report "Designing Social Capital Sensitive Participation Methodologies"

This study analyses participation methodologies through the lens of social capital. The integration of these two theories provide numerous insights into the design of participation methodologies and opportunities for them to perform much better. The findings of this integration were then applied to the case study participation methodologies with numerous important findings. Despite the efforts of the project development team, there were numerous oversights or missed opportunities where the project and community could have benefited from variations to the methodology used. It was found that by providing opportunities for repeat interaction in the participatory methodologies, social capital benefits could be maximised. It was also stressed that any social capital sensitive participatory methodology is by definition local context specific and application of such methods require careful analysis of the local context in which it is being applied. Further research is required in this area to identify opportunities and pitfalls across the breadth of participation methodologies.