Impact assessment of the mechanisms of citizen participation in the management and public policy actors of local social welfare: case analysis of the region of Murcia (Spain)

Abstract

The article presents an assessment of the impact of mechanisms for citizen participation in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of social welfare policies at the municipal level in the Region of Murcia (Spain) and their impact on the actors and the network of cooperation between associations. The results of the investigation, conducted from 2004 to 2010, are compared with research, facts and trends observed in other national and international studies and experiences. The results of the investigation permit, first, systematize the ways and types of participation mechanisms at the regional level and then identify the contributions, limitations and significant trends of Local Councils in their capacity to influence democratization and efficiency processess of social welfare policies at the local level. Their results show little opportunity to participate and if more formal than real, to not favor the possibility of an exercise of power or actual impact on the design, implementation and evaluation of municipal social policies.