Open
University, in the UK, has a free open content initiative called
OpenLearn. OpenLearn has added much of its materials from OU's Master's Degree
course, TU 870, calling it "Introducing international development
management" on this online platform. You can access all of these
materials, plus an excellent list of references (books, magazines,
etc.) here:
Published in Aid Workers Network by Jayne Cravens, www.coyotecommunications.com/development/
Public participation and working with stakeholders
Here is a great presentation about working with stakeholders in an organized way, with great tools for analysis, planning of a strategy on how to approach them, plenty of tools for going through all steps.
There is actually one big lesson - the planning of our approach to stakeholders can be the most important thing in any initiative. If you read the whole thing, you may also find a bit alternative Slide 10way to describe the different levels of participation, namely:
- Manipulation - Information Provision - Consultation - Participation - Delegated Power - Citizen Control
I like quite a lot the final one. Highly recommended material!
ProVention Consortium website, dedicated to disaster management and risk reduction. This is a link to the participation resources, published in the website. In brief: This section introduces the overarching subject of 'Participation'. This approach to development underpins the application of Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) and, in particular, Community Risk Assessment (CRA). Participation has been discussed, studied and applied in various ways in many sectors since the days of so-called 'community development' in the 1950s and 1960s. This section introduces the core debates and most useful participatory resources for those concerned with risk reduction and is structured as follows:
1. Portals and key websites 2. Networks 3. Key publications and conceptual articles 4. Leading thinkers on PAR, RRA, and PRA and their context * Paulo Freire * Robert Chambers 5. Participatory action research * PAR gateways and key websites * PAR essays * PAR applications 6. Civil society vs. state relations
From Participation to Empowerment: Critical Reflections on a Participatory Action Research Project with Street Children in Turkey
Author: Anli Ataöv and Jawaid Haider Middle East Technical University (METU) (Ataöv), Pennsylvania State University (Haider) Date: 2006
Summary This 26-page paper, published in a special issue of Children, Youth and Environments titled "Pushing the Boundaries: Critical International Perspectives on Child and Youth Participation" (click here to access the full issue), explores the communication strategies underpinning a 3-year participatory action research (PAR) project conducted with children living and working on the streets of 6 Turkish metropolitan cities. This project was motivated by the conviction that "if public space is to remain one of the foundational elements of a democratic society, it must be planned and researched using an inclusive approach". Yet, according to the authors, children - especially street children - are often not included in the research, planning, and/or management of public space. More ...
ProVentium Consortium and the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme, University of Cape Town, organised a three-day workshop on community risk assessment, which sought to strengthen capacity and build awareness and information exchange among academics and practitioners active in the field of participatory disaster risk assessment (PDRA).2 This paper is an output from that meeting, and is part of ongoing initiatives to raise awareness of and debate within the community of practitioners engaged in PDRA. It is beyond the scope of this paper to attempt a definitive review of participatory methods employed in disaster risk assessment.3 Instead, it identifies the key challenges that must be addressed if par-ticipatory approaches are to fulfil their potential for integrating the views of multiple stakeholders into disaster risk reduction and contribute to the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction into development planning.
Measuring human well-being: key findings and policy lessons
Social development indicators: how to measure poverty, well-being and inequality?
This policy brief outlines a contextual background to UNU-WIDER
research project on ‘Social Development Indicators’, introducing some
key concepts and measures used in assessing achieved well-being.
Highlighted are some of the most widely used well-being measures. The
brief also provides an overview of five edited volumes that have
emerged from the project, summarising some of the main conclusions. Authors:
D. Clark; M. McGillivray
Publisher:
World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER), 2007
Assessment of sustainability elements / key risk factors: practical guide
"The Guide is designed to be of practical use when identifying and
documenting the effects, impacts and risks of a programme.
Specifically, the guide is a supportive document for carrying out
screening and assessment of the relevant sustainability elements/ key
risk factors. These elements are described in the Development
Cooperation Manual (DCM), a quality assurance tool for the management
of Norwegian support to Partner Countries efforts to achieve
development results."
Participatory Development, "From Epistemological Reversals to Active Citizenship"
This is an interesting article on the increased importance of
participation and the efforts to involve marginalized groups in the
decision making processes, which affect them. The main questions
are about how to assure that vulnerable people are really connected to
the power. And also - is the rise of participation of the vulnerable
people enough, or the institutions themselves also need to change so
they are able to respond. And isn't the situation different in
different societies as every society has different channels to power
and different understanding of it? Go to the article here.
Note:Epistemology or theory of knowledge
is a branch of philosophy that studies nature, methods, limitations,
and validity of knowledge and belief. Epistemology addresses the
following questions: "What is knowledge?", "How is knowledge
acquired?", and "What do people really know?".
Survey on Participatory Democracy and Civic Activism in Croatia-call for contributions
The Centre for Peace Studies, in a partnership with “Ivo Pilar” Social Sciences Institute, conducts a survey of participatory democracy and civic activism in civil society organizations. The survey aims to determine the conditions and obstacles to future development of civil society in Croatia. Contributions and dissemination of the initiative among colleagues, managers, etc. are very much appreciated. Read the whole information here. The questionnaire is available here.
Here is the website of CDA, an USA based organisation dealing with learning from experiences. One of their projects, called LISTEN was designed to help evaluate the effectiveness of international aid. This was expected to make the work of multiple agencies much more effective.
The Listening project itself was quite an interesting approach which required facilitators and very good listening skills to approach beneficiaries, keep silent and learn as much as possible. They did not use semi-structured interviews, trying to let beneficiaries share absolutely everything they want to, so the results are beneficiaries driven and not donor driven. Go here.
A guide to making successful workshops and trainings
Here is a very nice guide how to organize and facilitate successful workshops. Sure most of us already know a lot, but in this 171 page document there is a lot of useful stuff. Here.
The Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a tool, used in many fields, sociology, technology, industry and many others. It can be simple or complex. The reasons of publishing it is its similarity and applicability within PRA, which has also the purpose to find the problems and their root causes.
Download here a document on RCA in the field of medicine, produced by the North Dakota Health Care Review, Inc. (Center for Rural Health, UND School of Medicine)
British Library for Development Studies - online materials
Here you can find a link to the electronic publications at the British Library for Development Studies. The subjects vary from Agriculture and Rural Development, through Environment, Gender, Human Rights, Participation (includes PLA), Poverty and more. A very good source. And as a bonus, here is another useful library in English: Open Access Journals Portal
Making your voice heard in the EU - A guide for NGOs
Civil Society Contact Group of which EPHA is a member, has published a new training handbook: “Making your voice heard in the EU - A guide for NGOs”. The handbook can be downloaded for free, in 8 European languages.This is a useful guide for NGOs who wish to get more involved at EU level. You can download it in English, French, German, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese and Slovene.It is specifically designed for relatively new NGOs and activists that are in the process of establishing a European strategy.The handbook provides information on EU institutions, the way European NGOs work, as well as lobbying “tips”, illustrated by examples of EU level campaigns. Chapter 1 offers a clear description of the EU structure, and how NGOs can interact with the EU institutions. The second chapter offers further advice on lobbying at the EU level and tips for strategies and campaigns. The final chapter provides key information regarding where to find further information, with specific links and contacts according to a variety of NGO activities.
European Commission publishes study on non-discrimination mainstreaming
The Centre for Strategy and Evaluation Services has, on behalf of the European Commission, produced a new study: ‘Non-discrimination mainstreaming - instruments, case studies and ways forward’.
