Community Participation and Lived Experience

Recognizing knowledge, strengthening inquiry, and sharing responsibility

Community Participation and Lived Experience are essential to the intellectual, ethical, and public-interest purpose of the Commons.

The Commons recognizes that people and communities affected by an issue may hold knowledge that is necessary to understand its causes, consequences, context, meaning, and possible responses.

This knowledge may arise through lived experience, collective history, cultural practice, community work, care responsibilities, professional engagement, local observation, advocacy, service use, or sustained experience of a particular condition, system, place, or institution.

Community participation is not an optional addition to serious knowledge work.

Where relevant, it can improve the quality of questions, the appropriateness of methods, the interpretation of evidence, the accessibility of outputs, the identification of harms, the relevance of recommendations, and the likelihood that knowledge will be used responsibly.

The Commons should therefore create meaningful, ethical, accessible, and non-extractive routes through which communities, people with lived experience, affected groups, and other relevant contributors can participate in Community activity, Critical Issues, research, publication, events, Repository development, learning, and governance.

Purpose and Principle

Community Participation and Lived Experience explains how the Commons recognises, supports, protects, and learns from knowledge held by communities, affected groups, and people with relevant direct experience.

It applies across the Community layer and, where appropriate, across Critical Issues, Community Groups, Working Spaces, Events and Learning, Commissioned Research, Journal Publication, Repository activity, practical resources, Partnerships, and governance.

The Commons recognises that serious inquiry is strengthened when it draws responsibly upon relevant academic, professional, institutional, practice-based, community, cultural, and lived-experience knowledge.

Community participation is not an optional addition undertaken only after questions have been framed, projects designed, decisions made, or outputs completed. Where relevant, it should inform the identification of questions, the interpretation of evidence, the recognition of harms and opportunities, the design of activity, the communication of findings, and the development of appropriate next steps.

Participation does not mean that every person must disclose personal experience, trauma, identity, health information, family circumstances, cultural knowledge, or other sensitive material.

No one should be pressured to do so.

What community participation means

Community participation means involving people, groups, organizations, and networks with relevant experience, knowledge, interests, or responsibilities in ways that are appropriate to the purpose of the activity.

Participation may involve:

• Identifying important questions.
• Describing lived realities and priorities.
• Contributing to a Critical Issue.
• Sharing relevant knowledge or resources.
• Participating in a Community.
• Reviewing the relevance or accessibility of a proposal.
• Advising on research design.
• Identifying risks, harms, or ethical concerns.
• Supporting recruitment or communication.
• Contributing to interpretation of findings.
• Co-developing events, training, guidance, or practical resources.
• Reviewing dissemination materials.
• Helping determine how outputs should be preserved, shared, restricted, or reused.
• Participating in advisory, working-group, or governance activity. Identifying future priorities.

Participation should not be assumed to mean the same thing in every context.

The appropriate form, scale, timing, and level of influence depend on the nature of the issue, the purpose of the activity, the people involved, the risks, the resources available, the relevant ethical requirements, and the decisions that participants can reasonably influence.

Community Knowledge and Lived Experience

Lived experience is knowledge gained through direct personal experience of a condition, issue, service, system, identity, place, event, or social circumstance.

It may arise through service use, care responsibilities, professional or community activity, encounter with an institution, experience of exclusion or discrimination, illness, displacement, poverty, violence, environmental change, public policy, or another relevant circumstance.

Community knowledge may be collective rather than individual. It may arise through shared history, cultural practice, local observation, community work, mutual support, advocacy, stewardship, language, place, tradition, or sustained experience of a common concern.

Professional experience, community knowledge, lived experience, and formal research evidence may each illuminate different parts of an Issue. They should not be treated as identical, nor should any form of knowledge be dismissed merely because it does not take the form of conventional academic evidence.

The purpose is not to flatten differences among forms of knowledge. It is to bring relevant knowledge into careful, respectful, and accountable relationship.

No individual should be assumed to represent an entire community, identity, profession, location, condition, culture, religion, ethnic or tribal group, gender, racial group, or experience merely because they have relevant lived experience or affiliation.

Community participation and lived experience can improve knowledge activity in several ways.

They can help the Commons to:

• Identify issues that may otherwise be overlooked.
• Frame questions in ways that reflect real experience.
• Recognize unequal effects of policies, services, systems, or conditions.
• Identify assumptions within professional, academic, or institutional approaches.
• Improve the relevance and feasibility of research.
• Identify potential harms, risks, and ethical concerns.
• Improve accessibility, language, recruitment, communication, and dissemination. Interpret findings in context.
• Identify practical barriers to implementation.
• Strengthen accountability to affected communities.
• Support more equitable use of knowledge.
• Build trust and sustained relationships.
• Ensure that outputs are not detached from the people and contexts to which they relate.

Participation does not guarantee agreement or a predetermined result.

It strengthens the quality, relevance, legitimacy, and ethical grounding of inquiry by ensuring that important perspectives can inform the work.

Meaningful Participation

Participation should have a clear purpose.

People should understand why they are being invited, what contribution is sought, who is responsible for the activity, what decisions are being made, what influence participants may have, what they cannot influence, how information will be used, and what follow-up they may reasonably expect.

The Commons may support different forms of participation:

• Information and access: providing understandable information about an Issue, activity, evidence, proposal, event, or opportunity.
• Consultation: seeking views, questions, feedback, priorities, concerns, or experience to inform a defined activity.
• Advice: obtaining continuing input from community advisers or people with relevant experience.
• Collaboration: working together on a defined task, event, resource, research need, proposal, or project.
• Co-production: sharing responsibility for design, development, delivery, interpretation, or use.
• Community-led activity: enabling a community or group to lead activity while the Commons provides agreed support, infrastructure, knowledge, learning, preservation, or other assistance.

The form of participation should be proportionate to the purpose, risks, resources, rights, capabilities, and decisions involved.

The Commons should not describe activity as co-production, collaboration, or community-led work where participants have no meaningful influence over the matter in question.

Principles for Meaningful Participation

The Commons should approach community participation and lived experience through the following principles.

Respect

Participants should be treated with dignity, care, and recognition.

Their time, knowledge, experience, privacy, safety, and boundaries should be respected.

Relevance

Participation should have a clear purpose.

People should understand why they are being invited, what the activity concerns, what kind of contribution is sought, and how that contribution may be used.

Transparency

The Commons should explain:

Who is responsible for the activity. What decisions are being made. What participants may influence. What participants cannot influence. How information will be recorded, shared, or preserved. Whether participation is public, private, attributed, anonymous, or confidential. What follow-up participants can expect.

Accessibility

Participation should be designed to reduce avoidable barriers.

This may require accessible formats, clear language, translation, interpretation, flexible timing, remote participation, support for travel or connectivity, child-care consideration, sensory or communication adjustments, and other appropriate arrangements.

Equity

The Commons should consider who is included, who is excluded, whose knowledge is recognized, who has decision-making power, who bears risks or burdens, and who benefits from the activity.

Non-extraction

The Commons should not treat people and communities merely as sources of data, personal stories, unpaid labour, or symbolic legitimacy.

Participation should provide appropriate recognition, feedback, reciprocity, and benefit.

Safety

The Commons should assess and address risks related to personal disclosure, stigma, retaliation, discrimination, conflict, trauma, power imbalance, digital safety, safeguarding, and public visibility.

Accountability

The Commons should record how participation informed the activity and explain where possible why particular suggestions, concerns, or priorities were adopted, adapted, deferred, or not taken forward.

Participation Across the Commons

Community participation and lived experience may help to identify or raise a Critical Issue; frame its scope; identify missing perspectives, harms, evidence gaps, and priorities; and contribute to relevant Groups, Events, consultations, Working Spaces, research, publications, or resources.

Participation may inform the development of a Commission Request, Concept Note, research design, recruitment approach, ethical safeguards, interpretation of findings, dissemination plan, Repository access conditions, publication summary, learning activity, practical resource, or Partnership.

Community contributors may participate as Commons Members, Community Group participants, advisers, facilitators, event speakers, reviewers, research contributors, co-authors, project participants, community representatives, or other agreed role holders.

Where a contributor is not yet a Commons Member, the Commons may create an appropriate route for participation where their knowledge is relevant and participation is properly supported. Such participation should not be made conditional on disclosing unnecessary personal information or accepting inappropriate Membership obligations.

Participation in a Community Group does not automatically give access to every Working Space, project, Critical Issues editorial process, or restricted activity. Access should be determined by role, purpose, consent, safeguarding, confidentiality, and other relevant conditions.

Community participation and lived experience may be relevant across both the Knowledge Architecture and Engagement Architecture.

Critical Issues

Communities and people with lived experience may help identify a Critical Issue, describe its significance, identify unanswered questions, contribute relevant knowledge, review the scope of the issue, and identify priorities for future work.

A Critical Issue should not claim community support unless relevant communities have been consulted and have agreed to that description.

Community

Community. spaces may enable people to discuss concerns, share experience, exchange resources, identify gaps, join working groups, attend events, and contribute to knowledge development.

Access conditions should be appropriate to the sensitivity of the subject and the needs of participants.

A public Community space may not be suitable where participants face stigma, risk of retaliation, privacy concerns, or other forms of vulnerability.

Commissioned Research

Community participation may shape the development of a Commission Request, Concept Note, Commissioning Brief, research design, participant engagement, interpretation of findings, dissemination, and Repository deposit.

The appropriate level of participation should be considered early.

The Commons should not wait until final dissemination to involve communities whose knowledge, safety, or interests should have informed the project from the beginning.

Journal Publication

Community contributors may participate in publication through authorship, acknowledgement, advisory input, review of accessible summaries, discussion of implications, or co-development of practice and community resources.

Authorship and acknowledgement should reflect actual contribution and should be agreed fairly.

Contributors should not be named without consent.

Repository

Community participation may be relevant to decisions about what should be preserved, how material should be described, whether access should be open or restricted, how knowledge should be attributed, and whether particular data, stories, images, records, or cultural material should be shared at all.

Repository deposit should not override consent, community expectations, cultural restrictions, privacy, ethics, or rights.

Events and learning

Community contributors may take part as speakers, facilitators, advisers, participants, reviewers, co-hosts, or co-designers of events and learning activities.

Events should be planned with attention to accessibility, safety, attribution, consent, recording arrangements, respectful facilitation, and appropriate follow-up.

Forms of Participation

Participation may take different forms.

Information and Access

The Commons may provide information about an activity, its purpose, relevant evidence, potential implications, and available routes for involvement.

Information alone is not the same as participation, but it is necessary for informed participation.

Consultation

The Commons may seek views, feedback, experience, priorities, or concerns to inform an activity.

Consultation should be clear about what is being asked, what will happen with the responses, and what decisions are already fixed.

Advice

Community advisers or people with lived experience may provide ongoing input on questions, methods, language, ethics, interpretation, accessibility, or dissemination.

Collaboration

Participants may work with researchers, practitioners, institutions, or Commons staff to develop an activity, resource, event, proposal, or project.

Co-Production

Co-production involves sharing responsibility for the design, development, delivery, interpretation, or use of an activity.

It requires clear agreements about roles, authority, resources, ownership, attribution, and decision-making.

Community-led activity

In some cases, a community, group, or organization may lead an activity while the Commons provides infrastructure, support, access to knowledge, training, event support, Repository services, or other agreed assistance.

The appropriate model should be determined by the purpose, context, capabilities, rights, and preferences of the people involved.

Invitations to Participate

The Commons should make invitations to participate clear and respectful.

An invitation should explain:

• The purpose of the activity.
• Why participation is being sought.
• Who is responsible.
• Who else may be involved.
• What participation may involve.
• Expected time commitment.
• Whether participation is voluntary.
• Whether compensation, expenses, honoraria, or support are available.
• What influence participants may have.
• What information may be recorded.
• Whether participation is public, attributed, anonymous, or confidential.
• How information may be used, shared, published, or preserved.
• Relevant risks and safeguards.
• How participants can ask questions, decline, withdraw, or raise concerns.

No person should be disadvantaged for declining to participate or choosing not to disclose personal information.

Recognition, Support, and Reciprocity

The Commons recognises that participation may require time, emotional labour, preparation, travel, digital access, expertise, personal disclosure, and exposure to risk.

Where appropriate, the Commons should consider honoraria, reimbursement of reasonable expenses, accessibility support, translation, interpretation, childcare, travel, connectivity, flexible participation arrangements, training, mentoring, and other forms of practical support.

Recognition should be fair and agreed in advance where possible.

Contributors may be named, credited collectively, acknowledged anonymously, recognised confidentially, compensated, or credited through authorship where their contribution meets the agreed standard for authorship.

No contributor should be named, quoted, photographed, recorded, or publicly identified without appropriate agreement.

Participation should offer appropriate reciprocity. This may include access to outputs, feedback on influence, learning opportunities, practical benefit, shared ownership of resources, capacity development, support for community priorities, or another meaningful return.

The Commons should not treat communities or people with lived experience merely as sources of data, personal stories, unpaid labour, symbolic legitimacy, or pre-determined validation.

Representation and Accountability

No individual should be assumed to represent an entire community, identity, profession, location, or experience merely because they have lived experience or a relevant affiliation.

The Commons should avoid tokenism.

A single contributor should not be asked to carry responsibility for speaking on behalf of all others who may be affected by an issue.

Where a person is invited as a representative, the basis and limits of that representation should be clear.

The Commons should also consider whose voices are absent, whether participation reflects relevant diversity, and whether institutional or professional power is limiting the ability of some contributors to participate freely.

Privacy, Confidentiality, and Consent

Community participation may involve sensitive information.

The Commons should address privacy, confidentiality, consent, data protection, safeguarding, and access conditions before collecting, sharing, publishing, or preserving personal or community information.

Participants should understand:

• Whether their contribution will be recorded.
• Whether it will be attributed.
• Whether it will be quoted, summarized, anonymized, or published.
• Whether it may be retained in a Repository or project record.
• Who may access it. How long it may be kept.
• Whether they can review, amend, or withdraw their contribution.
• What limits apply to withdrawal once material has been incorporated into an approved publication, final report, or preserved record.

The Commons should not publish personal stories, identifiable information, images, recordings, or community knowledge without appropriate permission.

Where consent is not sufficient because publication may create wider harm, the Commons should consider additional ethical, cultural, legal, and safeguarding factors.

Consent, Safety, and Cultural Rights

The Commons must address privacy, confidentiality, consent, safeguarding, data protection, cultural rights, intellectual property, and access conditions before collecting, sharing, publishing, recording, or preserving personal or community information.

Participants should understand whether their contribution will be recorded, attributed, anonymised, quoted, summarised, published, deposited in the Repository, retained in project records, shared with partners, or restricted.

They should understand who may access the material, how long it may be retained, whether they may review or withdraw it, and what limits may apply once a contribution has entered an approved publication, final report, preserved record, or completed output.

Some knowledge may be culturally restricted, collectively held, spiritually significant, place-based, or subject to community protocols. The Commons should not assume that individual consent is always sufficient, that all knowledge may be published openly, or that standard licensing is appropriate.

Where relevant, the Commons should consider collective authority, attribution, access restrictions, cultural notices, community governance, future use, and whether preservation or publication should occur at all.

Participation may involve trauma, stigma, unequal power, risk of retaliation, conflict, discrimination, or safeguarding concerns. The Commons should provide appropriate boundaries, facilitation, confidentiality, restricted spaces, referral routes, consent processes, and opportunities to pause, withdraw, or decline participation.

Equity, Conduct, and Accountability

The Commons should consider who is included, who is excluded, whose knowledge is recognised, who holds power, who bears risks, who benefits, and whose perspectives may be missing.

It should not permit discrimination, hostility, degradation, collective blame, or exclusion based on religion or belief, ethnicity, tribe, nationality, race, colour, ancestry, language, gender, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, social origin, or another relevant personal characteristic.

Participants, coordinators, moderators, editors, researchers, project leads, institutional representatives, partners, and administrators must treat contributors with dignity and respect.

The Commons should document, where appropriate, how participation informed an activity and explain why significant suggestions, concerns, priorities, or recommendations were adopted, adapted, deferred, or not taken forward.

Participants should have clear routes to ask questions, raise concerns, report misconduct, challenge unsafe or extractive practice, and seek review where appropriate.

Safeguarding and Support

Some participation may involve trauma, vulnerability, power imbalance, stigma, conflict, risk of retaliation, or other safeguarding concerns.

The Commons should assess potential risks and provide appropriate support.

This may include:

• Clear boundaries around participation.
• Confidential or restricted spaces.
• Skilled facilitation.
• Anonymous contribution routes where appropriate.
• Consent processes.
• Referral or signposting to relevant support.
• Safeguarding procedures.
• Options to pause, withdraw, or decline participation.
• Careful management of recordings, quotations, and public visibility.
• Escalation routes for concerns.

The Commons should not invite people to disclose traumatic or sensitive experiences unless there is a clear purpose, appropriate safeguards, and adequate support.

Reviewing the Quality of Participation

The Commons should review whether participation is meaningful and appropriate.

Relevant questions include:

• Were relevant communities or contributors identified?
• Was participation invited early enough?
• Were people given clear information?
• Were access and accessibility needs addressed?
• Was participation safe and respectful?
• Were contributors fairly recognized or compensated?
• Did participation influence the activity?
• Were participants told what happened as a result of their input?
• Were there barriers, exclusions, or unintended harms?
• What should be improved in future activity?

The Commons should document learning where appropriate and use it to strengthen later practice.

Community Participation and Lived Experience are working well when participation begins early enough to influence meaningful decisions; contributors understand their role and potential influence; access barriers are reduced; support and recognition are fair; and different forms of knowledge are treated responsibly.

They are working well when people are not pressured to disclose sensitive experience, communities are not treated tokenistically, cultural and collective rights are respected, privacy and safety are protected, contributors receive appropriate feedback, and the Commons learns from participation over time.

Events and Learning explains how the Commons plans, hosts, supports, records, and evaluates lectures, seminars, workshops, training, research briefings, community forums, conferences, and other learning activities.