[Building local citizen participation among older adults : A participatory project]

Dutch municipalities are looking for ways to promote citizen participation, among which older adults. This paper discusses older adults' experiences regarding favoring and inhibiting factors for lasting and independent citizen participation around the themes of housing, wellbeing and health care.

The participatory research project lasted from April 2014 to March 2016. The organizational structure consisted of a working group, a group of 21 participants (aged 65+) and the research team. Interviews and focus-group discussions were used.

The project did not result in lasting and independent citizen participation of older adults, as was intended beforehand. When we examined the experiences of the participants, we found that their participation was favored and inhibited by the factors Can do, Like to, Enabled to, Asked to, and Responded to.

In order for citizen participation to be successful, all five identified factors should be met by the stakeholders involved. To achieve this we recommend to fine-tune the mutual expectations of the stakeholders, using the CLEAR model. The empirically grounded knowledge, generated throughout the project, strengthens the existing evidence-base about participation of older adults and helps to shape local participation programs.