Resources

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a tool for enabling mapping and spatial analysis to be performed for a variety of applications, including natural resource management and planning activities. This article explores some of the benefits and concerns of using GIS as a participatory tool. It draws on a case study in Nepal, where participatory GIS was used in the field of community forest management. It argues that although GIS has a somewhat justified poor reputation as a tool for participatory development, this is due to misuse of GIS. The case study shows that GIS can be an important tool for enhancing participatory processes, allowing quantitative and qualitative information to be combined, to provide resource management information that was both relevant to the communities' needs and detailed enough to determine sustainable use. It calls for a refocus of GIS, from the technology, to people.

This three-volume set from Community Partnership centre (CPC) includes a participant's journal, a facilitator's handbook, and a facilitatorÆs resource guide. It describes and outlines the process for developing a CPC Citizen Learning Team and promoting participation in sustainable community development efforts. The model facilitates the community participation in the identification, evaluation and monitoring of community concerns. The participantÆs journal is designed to be used during work in a Learning Team divided into phases, where each phase begins with a question that provides an objective for team members to follow. The facilitatorÆs handbook is intended both for trained researchers and community members who wish to facilitate participation in the community development process, giving an introduction to the CPC evolving model for participatory community development research and practice. It goes through this process giving advice to prospective facilitators, phase-by-phase and providing general tips on meeting facilitation. The facilitatorÆs resource guide provides brief articles and other information sources such as internet links, relating to the topics of each phase. The phases in the project are divided as follows: how to work together and define goals; rationale and selection of what to learn; sourcing information and knowledge; action planning; evaluation and updating of the learning agenda; and visions for the future.

Aimed at grassroots NGOs, 'From the Roots Up' gives a thorough guide to organisational capacity building and assessment. It includes an outline of the tools and building blocks that are useful to adapt and create participatory exercises, ways to prepare for and carry out organisational self-assessment, methods for facilitators to guide and support the process and details 47 participatory exercises appropriate to conduct with local NGO and community group members. (Later 2001 edition also available in French and Spanish from World Neighbors)

Participation, Learning and Action (PLA) employs a set of techniques, which enables people to generate, share and analyze data about their community in a participatory and capacity-building manner. This paper describes a number of PLA techniques used in a Community Assessment project in Berkshire, England. Various groups in the community participated in order to gain a broad understanding of issues relevant to the community. The report briefly describes the four-week PLA process and gives two case studies. It describes the techniques used which included mapping, ranking, scoring, photography, time use, problem tree, impact diagrams and interview prompts.

This paper is concerned with the notion of developing effective citizenship and democracy building through participation and how power or lack of it plays a key role in the degree to which citizens are able to actively participate. The author considers that there are different approaches towards overcoming powerlessness, according to different dimensions of power, which then lead to developing citizenship and democracies. The first view describes power as a product that can be won by anybody who chooses to participate. Thus, citizenship can be developed through developing political and advocacy skills. The second is concerned with systematic barriers that do not allow people access to participate and thus to power. In this case, the focus is on strategies to gain access into the political arena with an emphasis on who participates, and not just how to. The third dimension is concerned with power as knowledge and consciousness - thus, what people participate about is crucial and forms of political education and awareness building is emphasised. The author advocates that all three dimensions must be combined and addressed in order overcome the challenges to citizenship and participatory democracy.

Community participation has become an ambiguous umbrella term under which a huge diversity of practices may occur, ranging from 'true' participation to the rhetorical participation, which serves merely to legitimize external interests in a development project. One variable within the participation process that may differ enormously is that of who participates. The tendency to assume that communities are homogenous entities has meant that many people within the community have been excluded from participating. The first section describes some determinants of who participates, which include socio-economic and socio-cultural factors. The remainder of the paper focuses draws on the case study of a rural development project undertaken in a Guatemalan Mayan Community. The local environment and history are described followed by characteristics of the participants, including an exploration of the characteristics of the project staff. The author concludes that participation in voluntary community development projects is largely dependent on socio-economic factors. In addition, geographical access, external social links, age, personality and cultural values all played a part in distinguishing who participates.

This guide aims to enable activists, trainers and other involved in development and democracy to promote citizen participation and to democratize decision-making. Drawing on experiences of NGOs from numerous countries, the document contains concepts, tools and step-by-step processes aimed at promoting citizen advocacy. It aims to help activists, practitioners and planners to work with civil society in a way that promotes political change, develops solutions to development problems and policies, creates strong and lasting links and transforms power relations, including gender dynamics.