SevenSenses

Citizen participation: how to motivate people without motivating them

Emma Jongen — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:44:45 +0000

I often get asked: how do I get the population or the target group involved in my project? As a municipality striving for citizen participation, this is often quite a challenge. I also frequently hear that attempts by the municipality to involve citizens in their projects end up fruitless.

As an action researcher, you’re actually not concerned with this issue because in such a process, the same population determines the form and execution of a project. So, you don’t need to get them on board because they are already participating, driven by their own intrinsic motivation. After all, it’s their own project!

Is your problem also their problem?

As the starting point of any action research, we first determine with the various stakeholders how they define the problem or situation. Sometimes that means that as a municipality, you have to choose a different starting point. Exciting, but worth it!

An example.

I remember well that a client wanted to protect sharks from extinction around the Dutch municipality of Saba (in the Caribbean). However, especially the local fishermen turned out to dislike sharks! Attempts such as distributing leaflets explaining the importance of sharks were unsuccessful. Sharks are troublesome creatures for them: they eat their fish and ruin their fish traps. Therefore, the starting point became the marine ecosystem instead of the sharks. A broader topic, where various stakeholders – including the fishermen – had much more space to indicate what they considered important. Eventually, this led to beautiful initiatives that indirectly protect the sharks (and the marine ecosystem as a whole)! If I had kept hammering on those sharks, I am sure nothing would have come of it. Also, in an action research in the L-Flat in Zeist, we chose a different starting point: from the waste problem defined by the municipality to the “living happiness” chosen by the residents (where the waste problem is part of). You can read about how that action research went here.

Exploring perspectives: there’s so much more!

The next step in action research is to explore the perspectives of the stakeholders on the subject. What causes and consequences do they see? What is the ideal situation according to them? What initiatives have been carried out in the past on this problem, and what was the effect? What is the role of the various parties, and how is their relationship? What is already going well in the community, what is abundant, what are the successes from the past, in any area? What talents and resources are already available? And most importantly… What solution directions do the different stakeholders propose? Taking the time to explore this thoroughly is a huge advantage over drawing conclusions from your desk or a quick residents’ meeting. You not only build a relationship with the residents but also learn much more important information that is crucial for project success! This (and the next) is where citizen participation gets a whole different dynamic. Or, can we still call it citizen participation?!

Reflecting on the outcomes with the stakeholders: a feast of recognition and
understanding!

As an action researcher, you analyze all the information you have received from the stakeholders. Then you create a visually clear overview of the total. The next step is the action where you as a municipality can make a difference, which is actually surprisingly simple – or almost too logical: you share those results with the stakeholders. You can do this, for example, in focus group-like meetings. This gives them the opportunity to first recognize their own perspective in those results. Secondly, it gives them the opportunity to understand the perspectives (and thus the behavior and choices) of other stakeholders.
Then you determine together with them which set of solution directions is the best combination to improve the system as a whole. This way, everyone gets the chance to contribute in their own way to the greater whole (the system), which ultimately yields beautiful results for everyone! For example, the fishermen on Saba came up with a way to fish more sustainably for red snapper, which further balances the marine ecosystem – benefiting the sharks, among others: more fish = more to eat!

The next step is the action where you as a municipality can make the difference, which is actually surprisingly simple – or almost too logical: you share those results with the stakeholders. This gives them the opportunity to first recognize their own perspective in those results. Secondly, it gives them the opportunity to understand the perspectives (and thus the behavior and choices) of other stakeholders.

And what else contributes to the motivation of stakeholders?

During the later stages of action research – as solution directions become more concrete – you as an action researcher can move on to exploring the stakeholders’ prerequisites for making it a success. What do they need? This is, of course, very specific to each project. However, there are some more general factors that ensure that each stakeholder can contribute to the success of a project from intrinsic motivation. Here are a few:

Pride: the activity increases his or her sense of self-worth;
Dignity: the activity increases his or her sense of autonomy, independence, and competence;
Identity: the activity is carried out by the right person (the one experiencing the problem);
Control: he or she has a sense of control over: 1) the necessities (he/she can easily access them), 2) decisions (he/she can participate in decision-making), and 3) activities (he/she has the capacity to do it);
Responsibility: he or she feels responsible for his/her tasks;
Unity: he or she feels empowered and supported by the group he/she works with. Celebrating the first successes – however small – can strengthen this sense of unity.
Place: he or she carries out his/her tasks in a safe, non-threatening environment;
Location: the activity takes place in a location where he or she feels connected.

All these factors contribute to people genuinely enjoying contributing. And that’s where the motivation comes from!

Motivating without motivating

Together with stakeholders, you can explore which (the above and/or other) factors are at play and how they can optimize those factors together. If you notice that a stakeholder is losing motivation, you can look back at these factors. What is he or she missing? Has something been overlooked? Then it is very important, for example, as a municipality, to have a dialogue with the stakeholders about this. In action research, and your role as a municipality remains that of a facilitator, and the residents stay in the driver’s seat. This way, as a municipality, you make the transition from focusing on citizen participation to focusing on government participation. Citizens motivate each other, and the municipality jumps in where necessary. Or, in other words, motivation without motivating!

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Co-create TOP action plans! 8 Tips for facilitating focus groups in Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Emma Jongen — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:38:40 +0000

To achieve a successful action plan with your PAR participants – to address a problem together – multiple focus groups are often necessary. How can we, as Participatory Action Researchers, ensure that participants develop a successful action plan, one they feel ownership of and are eager and enthusiastic to work on? In this blog, we present 8 tips to guide you through!

Design your focus group beforehand by creating a program with components that gradually lead to the goal of your focus group. Allow invited guests to contribute ideas. Prepare well, but also be open to improvisation! Often, we think we’ve created a wonderful program in advance, only to find that the actual needs of the group lie elsewhere. Therefore, try not to stick too rigidly to your program (and the times), but instead be flexible and improvise if the group’s needs change.
Share your results! Ensure that you visualize the results of the PAR in such a way that participants gain a clear understanding and overview. This forms the basis for the co-creation process! Allow room for participants to make additions or changes. Don’t worry if you feel that some information is missing in your visualization! Put a question mark there, inviting participants to provide additional input.
Maintain an open, non-judgmental attitude. As a facilitator of the focus group, maintain an open, non-judgmental attitude throughout the entire session so that participants feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Stay curious about their ideas, ask questions, and communicate from genuine interest. Rejecting ideas (even if done kindly) is unacceptable! Trust that the group will filter out the best ideas, you don’t need to do that for them.
Facilitate “aha” moments for your participants. Give participants the opportunity to make discoveries about the problem themselves. This is also known as ‘analyzing with participants’. By allowing them, for example, to make associations between different components of your results, they will experience ‘aha’ moments, leading to more enthusiasm and ownership over the new ideas that emerge. These are important building blocks for motivating groups of people to work together!
No debate or discussion – with losers – but dialogue – with winners. In a debate, the one who ‘shouts’ the loudest or has the most convincing arguments often ‘wins’. This means there are always many losers who go home disappointed. This is deadly for motivation! As action researchers, we don’t facilitate debate or discussion, but dialogue. In dialogue, we all open ourselves to each other’s ideas and build on them. Everyone has a share in the end result, so participants are all ‘winners’. Be vigilant as a facilitator for signs of potential discussion and guide participants back to dialogue.
Make agreements. At the end of the focus group session, make concrete agreements with the participants. Usually, after a single focus group, there is not yet a concrete action plan, so another focus group session is necessary. Agree on a date, place, and time with those interested and write down the names and contact information of the participants who want to participate. Invite new participants if necessary or ask participants to bring along any interested parties.
Close positively. A focus group can sometimes be quite burdensome, especially when dealing with long-standing issues or problems that people are greatly affected by. Depending on the purpose of your focus group (which in turn depends on the stage of the PAR you are in), this could involve collectively visualizing the ideal situation, prioritizing the best solution directions, or using a positive energizer. If people leave with a positive feeling, they are likely to feel the energy and motivation to come again – and when the action plan is ready, to get started with it!
Enjoy the focus group! Last but not least: don’t forget to enjoy yourself! I often see facilitators very nervous before a focus group, and I also sometimes get quite nervous. In those moments, don’t forget the following two things. Firstly, bringing people together constructively around an issue (who might never have come together otherwise) is already a step in the right direction. You’ve already won that! Secondly, I notice in practice that if you can radiate confidence in the process, in yourself, and especially in your participants, it has an enormously positive effect on the atmosphere in the group and the outcomes. Your own enthusiasm – for example, when you hear a new idea from participants – is contagious. So, even if it’s your first time leading a focus group: have confidence, radiate, smile, and enjoy it!

Want to know more? In our methodology section, you will find the ‘focus groups’ method, where you can learn all about facilitating focus groups. The Participatory Action Research handbook, written by 7Senses founder Madelon Eelderink, which was published in January 2020, describes in detail how to conduct focus groups at different stages of your Participatory Action Research. You can order the book here.

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Community-up: the third way for solutions in the social domain

Emma Jongen — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:34:18 +0000

You hear it more and more often: Community-up as a variation on Top-down and Bottom-up approaches. It’s also mentioned in my handbook “Participatory Action Research: Building Together Towards a Better World”. But what does it entail? Evert Jan explains. Enjoy reading, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Issues in the municipal domain are becoming increasingly complex. To address them effectively, input from both municipalities and society is necessary. Decades of working for society, however, have led to polarization in the relationship between municipalities and society. More and more often, municipalities and their societies find themselves at odds. As a result, top-down or bottom-up solutions are devised, with parties not aligned. There is a need for a different approach, and community-up provides that third way.

Top-down

Organizations in the municipal domain are accustomed to operating top-down. Solutions are developed based on expertise within these organizations, which are then offered or imposed on society. The problem with this approach is that the expertise present in society – for example, regarding the living environment – is not utilized. Nowadays, issues have become so complex that this expertise is indispensable.

Bottom-up

In an attempt to actively involve society, there is an increasing focus on bottom-up approaches. Society itself takes action and can effectively utilize its expertise. However, the disadvantage is that the expertise brought by organizations is no longer utilized. The role of organizations generally remains limited to facilitating the process. As a result, alongside bottom-up processes, organizations continue with their top-down approach, often leading to friction in practice.

Community-up

The solution lies in moving from either-or to both-and. Expertise is utilized from both sides. Professionals from involved organizations and people from society jointly develop and implement plans. This is what’s called community-up. Based on equality, all parties discover in a co-creation process how their perspectives reinforce each other and how each party can contribute a piece to the overall puzzle.

Common Misconceptions

Working community-up is really different from what we’re used to. However, many people look at community-up from their existing way of working, which often leads to misconceptions. Here are some common misconceptions:

“Community-up is another word for bottom-up.”
No. With community-up, “top” and “bottom” are both involved and jointly develop solutions. There is shared ownership of projects in which each party contributes a clearly defined contribution.

“Community-up means residents come up with a plan, and then the municipality foots the bill.”
No. With community-up, all involved parties jointly devise a solution and are collectively responsible from start to finish. This includes arranging any necessary budget.
Often, the municipality has the most financial resources. If these are used through a community-up process, it’s because the municipality participates in the co-creation process and discovers how their resources can be deployed in a way that optimally aligns with municipal objectives.

“With community-up, you gather needs from residents so you can better help them.”
No. With community-up, you’re not helping people. Instead, you enable residents and municipal employees, along with network partners, to discover how they can jointly develop solutions for (challenging) issues in society. Residents and organizations align their respective objectives and discover how they can reinforce each other.

“Community-up in disadvantaged neighborhoods is not realistic. Residents in difficult circumstances cannot be expected to collectively address a problem.”
No. The best way to overcome difficult circumstances is to contribute to them yourself. We have repeatedly experienced worldwide that communities have enormous power, even in challenging circumstances. It is our belief that by excluding residents from the process, the problems persist.

Fundamentally Different Way of Working

Many processes within municipalities are based on debate, while dialogue is needed for co-creation. Being open to each other’s ideas and connecting them requires an equal stance.
Additionally, many existing processes focus on maintaining control. A course is set, after which everything is geared towards maintaining that course. Co-creation requires letting go and allowing space for achieving common goals in different ways. Steering becomes more indirect: less focus on concrete output and more focus on “wholeness”, the effective functioning of the interplay between all parties.

New Opportunities in a Complex World

Issues in the municipal domain are becoming increasingly complex. To address them effectively, input from both municipalities and society is necessary. In practice, the system world of municipalities and their network partners and the lifeworld of people in society do not align well.

Community-up offers new opportunities precisely at this point. Community-up reconnects the system world and the lifeworld. By jointly exploring how a particular issue can be approached, the expertise from both worlds is used and brought together into an integrated approach in which both system parties and people from society play a role.

Because everyone is involved in the thinking process, solutions arise that individual parties would never have thought of. And because everyone contributes to the solution, all stakeholders feel ownership. That sense of ownership is the best predictor of sustainable impact!

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FAQ: PAR Practitioners Programma

Emma Jongen — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:19:59 +0000

Het PAR Practitioners Programma is een praktijkgerichte training Participatief Actieonderzoek.

Naast de informatie op de pagina hoor je in deze video antwoorden op de meest gestelde vragen.

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SevenSenses Tutorials: Formalisatie & Overdracht

Emma Jongen — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 09:08:08 +0000

De cruciale maar vaak vergeten brug tussen actieplan en uitvoering.

Misschien herken je het wel: je hebt met een groep een gave brainstorm gehad en mooie acties bedacht om een probleem te tackelen. Dan gaat iedereen naar huis en blijft de actie uit… Dit stadium van Formalisatie & Overdracht in PAO is dé brug tussen actieplan co-creatie en de uitvoering ervan, en zorgt voor maximaal gevoel van eigenaarschap en bestaansrecht van het actieplan, waardoor acties ook écht uitgevoerd gaan worden. Hoe vul jij dit stadium in? Succes en veel plezier bij de viering

Meer weten? Bestel het Handboek Participatief Actieonderzoek.

Wil je het ontwerpen van PAO en de uitvoering ervan écht in de vingers krijgen? Doe dan mee met het PAR Practitioners Programma!

SevenSenses Tutorials

In de SevenSenses Tutorials nemen we je in korte, krachtige video’s mee in de wereld van Participatief Actieonderzoek (PAO) en gerelateerde methoden, die inspiratie bieden voor het op gang brengen van de aanpak van complexe problemen mét de mensen om wie het gaat.

Elke tutorial zoomt in op een concreet thema, proces-stadium, praktijkvoorbeeld of veelgestelde vraag — zodat jij direct inspiratie opdoet die je in jouw eigen werk kunt toepassen. De voorbeelden komen uit uiteenlopende projecten, maar de inzichten zijn breed inzetbaar, of je nu werkt in zorg, onderwijs, natuurbeheer, wijkontwikkeling of beleid.

Geen A tot Z cursus, maar wél een serie bomvol praktische tips, frisse ideeën en herkenbare situaties. Zo kun je stap voor stap ontdekken of en hoe PAO jou kan helpen om samenwerking op gang te brengen tussen alle partijen die ertoe doen.

Wil je verder dan alleen inspiratie, en ook echt de fijne kneepjes van PAO leren beheersen? Kijk dan eens naar ons PAR Practitioners Programma — dé intensieve training waarin je leert om participatief actieonderzoek succesvol toe te passen in je eigen praktijk.

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SevenSenses Tutorials: Actieplan Co-creatie: faciliteer groepen in het maken van actieplannen die écht het verschil maken

Emma Jongen — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:29:42 +0000

Leer in deze tutorial meer over het bijzondere stadium van Actieplan Co-creatie: where the magic happens!

Al het harde voorwerk komt nu prachtig samen en betrokkenen leggen samen de puzzel met als resultaat: een set actieplannen met goede samenhang, die elkaar versterken en het complexe vraagstuk bij álle wortels aanpakt. Een feest om dit te faciliteren, al zeggen we het zelf.

Meer weten? Bestel het Handboek Participatief Actieonderzoek.

Wil je het ontwerpen van PAO en de uitvoering ervan écht in de vingers krijgen? Doe dan mee met het PAR Practitioners Programma!

SevenSenses Tutorials

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SevenSenses Tutorials: Behoefte of oplossing? Het verschil dat het verschil maakt

Emma Jongen — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 10:52:34 +0000

Wat is nou echt het verschil tussen een behoefte en een oplossingsrichting? En… maakt dat verschil eigenlijk uit?

Spoiler: ja. Het maakt alle verschil! In deze tutorial ontdek je waarom het zó belangrijk is om eerst de behoefte scherp te krijgen, vóór je naar oplossingen springt. En hoe dat leidt tot oplossingen die niet alleen slimmer en innovatiever zijn, maar vooral: meer gedragen en coöperatief!

Meer weten? Bestel het Handboek Participatief Actieonderzoek.

Wil je het ontwerpen van PAO en de uitvoering ervan écht in de vingers krijgen? Doe dan mee met het PAR Practitioners Programma!

SevenSenses Tutorials

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SevenSenses Tutorials: Hoe voorkom je dat mensen bijeenkomsten domineren?

Emma Jongen — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 11:50:34 +0000

Het internet wemelt van de tips over hoe om te gaan met mensen die je brainstormsessie domineren – op het moment dát het gebeurt. Veel minder hoor je over hoe je kunt voorkómen dat mensen je komende sessies domineren. Daar gaat deze video over.
Pas deze hack toe en geniet van de fijne dynamiek die het je oplevert!

Meer weten? Bestel het Handboek Participatief Actieonderzoek.

Wil je het ontwerpen van PAO en de uitvoering ervan écht in de vingers krijgen? Doe dan mee met het PAR Practitioners Programma!

SevenSenses Tutorials

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SevenSenses Tutorials: Componenten van een perspectief: hoe je meningen vergelijkbaar maakt als basis voor verandering

Emma Jongen — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 16:39:44 +0000

Perspectieven zijn meningen en meningen verschillen. Maar wat als je die perspectieven vergelijkbaar kunt maken door ze te ontleden in verschillende componenten? Wat als je deze meningen daardoor inzichtelijk kunt maken en die inzichten kunt delen met betrokkenen? Wat als je dat kunt gebruiken als basis voor een constructieve dialoog en brainstorms om tot oplossingen te komen? Leer in deze video meer over de componenten van een perspectief:

huidige situatie
gewenste situatie
behoeften
oplossingsrichtingen
assets
intrinsieke motivatie

Meer weten? Bestel het Handboek Participatief Actieonderzoek.

Wil je het PAO-proces écht in de vingers krijgen? Doe dan mee met het PAR Practitioners Programma!

SevenSenses Tutorials

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SevenSenses Tutorials: Kan ik niet effe een Participatief Actieonderzoek naast mijn werk doen, een paar uurtjes per week?

Emma Jongen — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 13:03:05 +0000

Vaak komt de vraag voorbij of een PAO niet in een paar uurtjes per week kan. Ik weet het, het is niet wat je wilt horen (ik wou ook dat het anders was). Maar nee, dat kan helaas niet. Technisch gezien natuurlijk wel, maar de kans op succesvolle uitkomsten is tenenkrommend klein. Een PAO pas je alleen toe op hele complexe situaties en dat vraagt intensieve aandacht. In deze tutorial leg ik uit hoe je ondanks drukke agenda’s toch een succesvol PAO uit kunt voeren en wat daaraan ten grondslag ligt.

Bonustip: kijk eens welke activiteiten je al doet in je huidige werk, die je kunt integreren met de activiteiten voor je PAO. Met wat creativiteit kom je vast een heel eind!

Meer weten? Bestel het Handboek Participatief Actieonderzoek van SevenSenses oprichter Madelon Eelderink.

Wil je PAO écht in de vingers krijgen? Doe dan mee met het PAR Practitioners Programma!

Voor nu: heel veel succes!

SevenSenses Tutorials

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