Empowering communities : participatory techniques for community-based programme development. Volume 1: Trainer's manual

This training manual is the result of collaboration between The Academy for Educational Development (Washington, USA), John Hopkins University/Centre for Communication Programme (Baltimore, USA), the Centre for African Family Studies (Nairobi, Kenya) and the United States Agency for International Development. It is a two week course (suggested length) for the staff of health and other organisations whose aim is to encourage community participation through working directly with the communities involved in their programmes. The objectives of the course are to: provide a history and understanding of the foundations of PLA; to identify and implement the different steps of the participatory programme development (PPD) process; to practice the behaviours and attitudes which are necessary for the successful implementation of PLA and to facilitate the use of various PLA techniques. The manual is divided into sections, which exposes participants to the different elements of participatory programme development in the same order in which the elements would be carried out in a real community. The manual moves from the theory behind behaviour and attitudes, encouraging communication and team building into the practice of specific PLA techniques, such as mapping, transect walks, timelines, diagramming, card sorting and ranking, and finally to a community action plan, monitoring and evaluation and preparation for field work. (see also Participant's Handbook at C: Training and Manuals - 3485)