PARTICIPATION EXPERIENCE IN COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES: THE VIEW OF THE YOUNG

The main objective of this research was to investigate how two young people, who participate in community activities, at a neighborhood in the north side of Sao Paulo, understand their own participation. More specifically, it was aimed to comprehend what lead to their choice to participate. The concept of participation was based on Paulo Freire's work. The procedure used was the individual reflexive interview. The analysis showed that the participants, throughout their lives used and were involved with various community spaces; they were considered as jointly responsible for the transformation of the history and culture of the community. Different understandings of participation, such as collaboration and help appeared in the analysis. As a conclusion, it we could see that that their history and experiences on community participation pointed to a context of participation, that is, young people participate better in a context that values and encourages participation.