Description
In its strategy for social cohesion, the Council of Europe defines social cohesion as the capacity of a society to ensure welfare of all through the shared responsibility of its various stakeholders (public and private players, citizens). A link is established with sustainable development, through the inclusion of the welfare of future generations. Participatory evaluation implies that all stakeholders (beneficiaries, service providers, administrators, and so on) are fully aware of the impact of services and actions undertaken, and are then able to decide on the priorities to be set in order to bring about an improvement. This, for example, was what took place in the Lycée Albert‑Schweitzer in Mulhouse: teachers, administrative staff, pupils, parents and maintenance staff, using the SPIRAL approach, undertook a participatory evaluation of the school, and together decided to implement an action plan to improve the well‑being of all within the lycée. The same method can be adopted for social services or integration bodies, provided that prominence is given to the point of view of users, so that they can express themselves freely (without fear of any adverse consequences) and can take part in the decisions regarding the changes to be introduced. The advantage of these processes is that participants are made aware of the different stages involved in the common management of a resource.