Power, Participation and Systems Change: What Does it Mean to Create Meaningful Spaces for Participation?
24th October 2025
Many of us can relate to a time or an entire life of exclusion from the decision-making that impacts our lives. This can look like being left out of or blocked from the conversations around the policies, interventions, and supports that shape our daily lives and the opportunities and experiences we have access to. For some of us, this is a consistent experience that can slowly erase who we are, our culture and our stories.
We know what it feels like to be excluded from decisions that affect our lives. And we also know the difference it makes when people are able to take spaces or be invited in, not just as voices to be “consulted” but as people who have the right to shape the policies, services and supports that influence their lives, education, work and communities.
Making participation meaningful can be complex. It takes time and resources, and it’s about more than setting up a convening space, or a meeting, or asking for input as a one-off exercise. Real participation is about power - who holds it, who doesn’t, and what it takes to share it, take it, or let it go.
At Dartington, I focus on creating spaces where communities can influence, shape and make the decisions that affect them. This can be challenging and messy, at times uncomfortable for some, but it is essential work. Work like this means being curious and asking questions.
When we explore decision-making, goals and resource distribution, we might ask:
What decisions are currently being made, and by whom?
More often than not, this should be followed by:
Who has historically made these decisions?
What are the implications of this – for example, what resources can we allocate to shifting how we make decisions?
This is not about doing participation for the sake of doing it, so when we explore purpose, we may ask:
Where are the limits of participation, and how do we communicate them honestly?
Are we ready for participation? What will it look like?
Where might other forms of participation already exist and be creating more meaningful change? Followed by:
How can we support this?
And when we think about process, this is about determining the parameters of participation together, so we may ask:
Are we co-creating the rules of participation with people, or setting them up for them? Why might this be unhelpful or harmful?
What supports and scaffolding are we putting in place to create spaces that are meaningful and supportive for everyone, including the facilitators (e.g., resources, pay, wellbeing support)?
And crucially, beyond just asking these questions, creating meaningful spaces for participation that do shift power means taking action based on the answers to them.
“For me, creating these spaces is about transformation. It’s about shifting relationships, power and possibilities, and creating these together to achieve systems change. However, real systems change doesn’t happen in a single space, through one type of participation, or as the result of carefully orchestrated efforts alone. In fact, much of it is not orchestrated at all, it emerges through ongoing, often unpredictable, interactions, relationships, and collective action built over time. ”
How are we doing this at Dartington?
At Dartington, we have been doing and creating “participation” in different ways across co-design, service improvement and evaluation initiatives for many years. Throughout all of our work on systemic change with and for children and young people, we are engaging in efforts to shift people’s perspectives around what participation is and can be, and who should be involved.
We centre children and young people’s participation and contributions: “Making co-design truly youth-centred”
We produce evidence on how participation can be done and its implications: “Co-designing strategies to support children and young people’s mental health in Newham and Northern Devon”, “A community-based approach to identifying and prioritising young people’s mental health needs in their local communities” and “Developing programme theory for a place-based, systems change approach to adolescent mental health: A developmental realist evaluation”
And we’ve designed our organisational strategy centred around participation and systems change: “Thriving Futures: Driving systemic change with and for children and young people”
We are creating spaces for participation where and how we can, moving from consultation to co-design and co-production and in partnership with local community organisations and youth groups.
Co-designing with young people and other community members: “Co-design: Where the magic happens”
Partnering with local community organisations to design new services and futures: “Kailo Framework”
And we’re ensuring our practice is shaped by anti-racist and equity principles.
Developing an anti-racism framework to support our work: “Our anti-racism journey: from commitment to action”
What does participation look like in your work?
How do you currently make space for others to participate meaningfully in decision-making?
What barriers do you notice to inclusive participation in your context, and how might they be addressed collectively?
What are the limits and implications of institution and adult-led participation for communities, children and young people?
Learn and collaborate
Explore our projects and resources related to participation and systems change at the links above. We want to be continually learning, and we’re keen to hear how others are approaching this work. If you’re also reimagining how power, voice, and decision-making can be shared to create lasting systems change then please reach out to me to start a conversation today.
We are also hosting an event about embedding anti-racism in research and design practice on 26th November 2025, and we’d love you to join us to explore these questions more. Book your free space here.