ABSTRACT
In order to build capacity for community participation it is necessary for municipalities to enhance their understanding of what participation is and what it involves. The nature of participation and the municipal-community partnership varies considerably. Community participation is not only affected by the external operating context and the institutional context of the municipality itself, but by a multitude of community and project factors. In building capacity, all aspects of this contextual framework should be properly explored with the view to identifying constraints to and opportunities for community participation.
