Background Letting the citizens` voices being heard is regarded crucial for successful local public health work. A national project aimed at developing health promoting neighbourhoods through citizen participatory processes was implemented in 42 municipalities in Norway between 2016 and 2018. This study aims to explore the variety of conditions facilitating broad and long-term citizen participation in this project. Methods Data were collected by open-ended questionnaires completed by project workers and participating citizens in the eight municipalities involved in this particular study. Data were analysed by qualitative content analysis. Results The results revealed that broad citizen participation presupposed the use of many different approaches that were adapted to different subgroups of the population. Personal invitations to join participatory processes in smaller groups in familiar settings, and seeking out citizens in their own arenas, appeared to be particularly useful recruiting approaches to reach those who usually are under-represented in traditional participatory processes. Long-term commitment to citizen participation processes seems to be facilitated by pre-process clarification of the frames, early post-process information about the results and anticipated future use of the results, and quick implementation of some efforts based on these results. Conclusions Broad and long-term commitment to citizen participatory processes as part of local public health work seems to presuppose a flexibility regarding different types of participatory and recruitment approaches and clear communication to the citizens on relevant issues at each particular stage of the processes. Key messages Broad and long-term commitment to citizen participatory processes requires flexibility regarding participatory and recruitment approaches. Broad and long-term commitment to citizen participatory processes requires clear communication to citizens pre- and post-process.

Background Lately, there has been a call for knowledge-based community public health strategies and for evaluating local public health interventions. In addition to contributing to the public health knowledge base, it is underlined that the evaluations should be formative for ongoing local processes. The community professionals often lack evaluation competency, and a university course (10 ECTS) about process- and self-evaluation has been developed and facilitated for local public health workers. Vestfold County Council and University of South-Eastern Norway have collaborated to develop the course. The course has a particular focus on Formative Dialogue Research (FDR). FDR strategies may emphasize both project impact and processes, and local competences. The FDR approaches also contributes to the public health knowledge base (Rønningen 2010). Objective To examine and discuss whether FDR in combinations with an evaluation course, may be an appropriate strategy to meet the new expectations for community public health evaluations. Results Preliminary results indicate that FDR in combination with a evaluation course, may be an appropriate and desirable approach in community public health projects. The local public health professionals welcome the course. The focus has until now been on the development of the course and the cooperation and dialogues between the university and the county. Questionnaire and interview data collected in September 2019 will exemplify and nuance these preliminary results. Conclusions So far, the developing process indicate that FDR in combination with a course in self- and process evaluation, support FDR as an appropriate evaluation approach in community public health projects and processes. Key messages The local public health workers often lack competences in project evaluation. FDR in combination with a comprehensive course in process and self-evaluation seem appropriate evaluation approaches in community public health projects.