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Previous research has identified the potential of community-based development processes to reverse inequalities. However, in many cases, constraints arise that hinder the achievement of community goals. This article focuses on the role contributed by a school to overcome these barriers. Specifically, we address the role played by the Mare de Déu de Montserrat School, which is a Learning Community, in the launch and development of a community-based process. Known as The Dream, this process was initiated by a group of unemployed Moroccan residents in an impoverished urban neighbourhood in Spain. Through this process, the neighbours have created a self-managed community garden, which has enabled them to improve their job training and build social networks. Based on the communicative methodology, our qualitative study finds that this school has contributed to the creation of specific conditions that helped to overcome some barriers that had hindered the emergence of community responses. In addition, the contributions of the school have promoted a horizontal and dialogical organization of the process, placing neighbours in central positions in decision-making and leadership roles. This case study provides relevant theoretical and practical implications for the contributions that certain school-based interventions can provide to promote community initiatives in impoverished environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an assessment of the impact of citizen participation mechanisms in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of social welfare policies at the municipal level in the Region of Murcia and their impact on the actors involved and on the network of cooperation between associations. The results of this investigation, conducted from 2004 to 2010, are compared with research, facts and trends reported in other studies and experiences in Spain and abroad. This study has made it possible to systematize the types of participation mechanism found at the regional level and then to identify contributions, limitations and significant trends in the local councils' capacity to influence the democratization and efficiency of social welfare policies at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]