Children's Performance in Environmental Participatory Activities; Case Study: Sonbolestan Neighborhood, Esfahan

According to the ideologues of the Iranian society, the social participation is one of the most important and influential problem in the development of Iran. If the first step in institutionalizing participation is to practice, we must accept that children are the best group that can practice and spread participation culture in the family and community. Therefore, this study has deal with the issue of children's participation and in action research process has examined the children's participatory / non-participatory actions. The framework of participation is Sanbolestan neighborhood in Esfahan and the selected field for participation is the environment of the neighborhood. The data of this study were obtained in the framework of the action research method through observation and interview with 14 girls during 8 participatory activities and were analyzed through the thematic analysis method. Findings indicate that these children in the three stages of entering, performing, and completing participatory activities tend to be in a group but act individually. Researchers have called these situation as "non-participatory collectivism." Lack of meaningful participation for children, lack of participatory patterns at home and school, strong gender boundaries in families, and inability to appreciate are some of the reasons why children cannot perform well in a participatory activity. Of course, the findings of this study, which have been obtained during more than a year of working with children, show that the continuation of participation decrease many obstacles of participatory solutions such as insistence on familiarity, irresponsibility, inability to evaluate the share and etc.