A participatory process is a sequence of participatory activities (e.g. first filling out a survey, then making proposals, discussing them in face-to-face or virtual meetings, and finally prioritizing them) with the aim of defining and making a decision on a specific topic.

Exemples of participatory processes: a process for the selection of committee members (où the candidatures are on the subject of the present, the final votes and the final candidature are selected), the participatory budgets (où the propositions are faites, the economic evaluations and the votes with the 'argent available), a process of strategic planning, the collaborative redaction of a regulation or of a norm, the conception of an urban space or the production of a public policy plan.