This video briefly describes a process undertaken by a community group on Northern Ireland to obtain a community centre. Through interviews with local people, it shows the need for a community centre (01-03), the process of building contacts between the community group and other agencies (04), consulting local people about what they want (05 -08) and getting people involved in the process (09).
As part of a course in forestry and participation, 27 forestry officials from Africa, Asia and Scotland spent 10 days in County Kilkenny, Ireland, using PRA and visualisation methods to help local people develop a local forestry action plan. During meetings with local people, visual tools were used to encourage them to express their preferences about the environment. Methods used included resource and social mapping, Venn diagrams, and matrix ranking or tree species preferences. Local people's views were relayed to the local council, thus giving them a say in environmental management. One local council member recognised the need for better communication and broader consultation between the council and local people.