Factors for Success in Participative Community Planning: Lessons from a Case Study in Child Welfare in the Province of Alberta

This paper distils the lessons of an innovative participative community planning project in the Canadian Province of Alberta. The project involved Alberta Social Services, more than twenty privately-run child welfare organizations or service providers, and related community agencies such as schools and police forces. The pilot was started in 1984 and most of the recommendations of this planning project, including reallocations in a one-million dollar budget, were implemented in 1985. Thirteen years later, in 1998, most of the changes that were implemented remained in effect and were perceived by service providers as continuing to have a positive impact.