Gordon, Gill

This short article, in the ætips for trainersÆ section of the special 50th edition of PLA notes, describes an activity called æfishbowlÆ. The activity enables people from different groups to ask questions of each other and be listened to in a safe way. Each group thinks of all the questions they want to ask the other group on a particular topic. The groups then discuss the questions. One group sits in the middle facing inwards, answering the questions while the other group sits around the outside, listening without speaking. The groups then switch positions.

This short article, in the ætips for trainers' section of the special 50th edition of PLA notes, looks at agreeing ground rules for discussions with participants involved in a workshop. After explaining that ground rules can help participants to feel safe expressing themselves, the authors describe a simple exercise that could be used to come up with ground rules in a workshop. The ground rules can then serve as a kind of group contract that can support an emotionally safe space for sharing and can also be referred to throughout the workshop.

As part of the special 50th issue of PLA Notes, this article reaffirms the fundamental value of participatory work in supporting people to gain the confidence and capacity to change their realities. The authors explore these issues through the perspective of sexual and reproductive well-being and rights, looking at lessons learnt and exploring ways in which practitioners are addressing the new challenges thrown up in changing environments.

This Manual describes a two week course on Participatory Approaches to Reproductive Health and Nutrition held in Kenya for a Danida-funded Community Based Nutrition Programme (CBNP). The project began with 14 Family Life Training Centres where severely malnourished children were rehabilitated and their parents taught about nutritious meals, health and farming. In 1994, the project committed itself to a new community-based strategy after evaluation showed that the institution-based project had little impact on the community and many children relapsed.

An article describing a holistic sexual and reproductive health project in Zambia and focuses on participatory approaches used to address gender issues, male involvement, and the integration of sexual and reproductive health issues at community and clinic levels. The authors show how government programmes that use participatory approaches to achieve goals from the Cairo Population Conference face many opportunities and challenges in their work.

Article about a two-week course, run by the authors, at a Family Life Training Centre in the Embu District of Kenya. It was designed to help project staff develop and use performing arts and visual materials in their programme. The aim was to develop materials that posed questions and problems, rather than supplying answers and solutions. These materials could then be used to enable local people to probe, reflect and thereby bring about a change in their perceptions of the world and themselves as individuals within it.

Stepping Stones is a training package which has been developed on HIV/AIDS, communication and relationshiop skills. This guide is based on the experience of a a number of organisations who have adapted Stepping Stones either during an initial workshop or after using it in the field. The guide includes different types of adaptation that can be made, how to go about the process of adapting Stepping Stones and some practical issues to consider in doing so.