Course Summary:

The approach can be used in identifying needs, planning, monitoring or evaluating projects and programmes. Whilst a powerful consultation tool, it offers the opportunity to go beyond mere consultation and promote the active participation of communities in the issues and interventions that shape their lives. More traditional, extractive research tends to ‘consult’ communities and then take away the findings for analysis, with no assurance that they will be acted on.

In contrast, PLA tools combine the sharing of insights with analysis and, as such, provide a catalyst for the community themselves to act on what is uncovered. The approach has been used, traditionally, with rural communities in the developing world. There it has been found extremely effective in tapping into the unique perspectives of the rural poor, helping to unlock their ideas not only on the nature and causes of the issues that affect them, but also on realistic solutions. It enables local people to share their perceptions and identify, prioritise and appraise issues from their knowledge of local conditions. By utilising visual methods and analytical tools, PLA enables all community members to participate, regardless of their age, ethnicity or literacy capabilities.

Course Objectives:

• Define Participatory Approaches
• Explain the purpose of Participatory Approaches
• Identify types of Participatory Approaches
• Identify target areas/ Groups for participatory methods
• Define project identification.
• Justify purpose of project identification
• State the stages of project identification
• Define planning
• Justify the purpose of planning
• Decide on appropriate planning methods
• Decide on appropriate follow ups on planned activities
• Define monitoring and evaluation
• Explain the purpose monitoring & evaluation

Course Outline

Introduction to Course

• Objective setting: sharing our expectations
• Defining our terms : Project / Participatory/ Planning and management
• Experience sharing/problem solving

Project management and Participatory development

• Overview of Project Management and Project Life Cycle (PLC)
• Overview of Participatory development philosophies and approaches
• Show does that “fit’ together??? ( small group exercise)

Participatory Project Inception and design

• How tbuild on people’s wish for change (initiating)
• How tensure collective contributions
• How tidentify resources needed: existing skills and assets, external input (planning)

Key elements of a Project Plan

• Description; Confirmation; Tracking
• Constructing the action plan on existing assets

Participatory Project Implementation

• Keeping people’s agency at the heart of the action
• Identifying risks, alleviating them

Managing the action while keeping participation

• Managing resources: human, in-kind, financial
• Some tools, methodologies / case study

Project Follow-up and monitoring

• Strategies for ongoing participatory assessment
• Tracking Changes, Confirming plan
• When Change is needed: adjusting the course of action

Participatory Project Evaluation

• Why da Project evaluation?
• Evaluate what and for whom: accountability vs learning
• Revisiting the Change expected
• Learning and communications
• How tframe and use the learning
• Reporting and Communicating about the project