Multidisciplinarity in the PLA context: eight lessons from a research project on tourism and the environment

This paper describes the challenges and lessons learnt from Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) in a multidisciplinary research project on Tourism and the Environment. The projects overall goal was to assess the negative and positive economic, environmental, and socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Kenya, with particular emphasis on learning of the perceptions of stakeholders in the industry, namely local communities. Professionals from biological and environmental sciences, economics, geography and film production were included in the project. Eight challenges that project team workers faced are described. These were: how to define local stakeholders; inability to understand each others specialized knowledge; leadership issues; problems due to changes in time and the economy; time clashes; difficulties of regular briefings; delegation issues; and personal gain vs. group objectives.