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A participatory process is a sequence of participatory activities (e.g. first filling out a survey, then making proposals, discussing them in face-to-face or virtual meetings, and finally prioritizing them) with the aim of defining and making a decision on a specific topic.
Examples of participatory processes are: a process of electing committee members (where candidatures are first presented, then debated and finally a candidacy is chosen), participatory budgets (where proposals are made, valued economically and voted on with the money available), a strategic planning process, the collaborative drafting of a regulation or norm, the design of an urban space or the production of a public policy plan.
[Safe(r) Spaces] Accountability & Consequence
Turning participation into visible commitments, follow-up, and shared responsibility
About this process
This process explores how safe(r) participatory spaces can move beyond consultation towards accountability and consequence. Drawing on the West Midlands INSPIRE policy tracker, it looks at how facilitators can document commitments, follow up on proposals, and make visible what happens after participants share their experiences, demands, and labour.
Participation creates expectations. For people who share lived experiences, stories of harm, and unpaid labour in “consultations,” what happens after the workshop or assembly is as important as what happens inside it. Facilitating a safe(r) digital space, therefore, has to extend beyond meetings to how decisions are followed up, data are handled, and consider the relationships that are built in the process.
Reference: inspire-PART-2026-05-21