FAO’s Participation Website E-Newsletter

No. 17, March 2009

This is FAO’s Participation Website E-Newsletter, which will keep you up to date with the Website’s latest resources.

For comments and/or suggestions or to receive this Newsletter via email, please write to IWG-PA-Webbox@fao.org

IN THIS ISSUE:

Highlights of the Library Section

Highlights of the Field Tools Section

Highlights of the Lessons Learned Section

Highlights of the Links Section

Submit your documents, lessons learned, tools…  

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In the Library section, we highlight some examples of newly received FAO publications:

Participatory disease surveillance in the Republic of Sudan – as of August 2007, FAO-EMPRES, EMPRES Transboundary Animal Diseases Bulletin 31/2008, EN, FR, ES, 48 p.

Microfinance, gender and HIV/SIDA , FAO, EN, FR, 6 p.

World Congress on Communication for Development. Lessons, Challenges and the Way Forward, FAO; World Bank, EN, 352 p.

Community Based Adaptation in Action. A case study from Bangladesh, Baas, S.; Ramasamy, S., EN, 66 p.

Information and knowledge sharing, FAO, FAO Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries No.12/2009, EN, 97 p.

GESAMP - Assessment and communication of environmental risks in coastal aquaculture, IMO /FAO/UNESCO-IOC/ WMO /WHO/IAEA/UN/UNEP Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), GESAMP Reports and Studies No. 76, EN, 198 p.

Farmer access to seeds and their contribution to sustainable livelhoods in the Vientiane Province of LAO PDR, FAO ( Italy ); Ministry of Agriculture (LAO PDR), EN, 2 p.

Dimitra newsletter. Rural women and development, No. 14/2008, FAO , FAO Dimitra Project, EN, 24 p.

Diseño participativo para una estrategia de comunicación. Segunda edición, Mefalopulos, P.; Kamlongera, C., ES, 126 p. (in Spanish)

Manual Diagnóstico Participativo de Comunicación Rural Comenzando con la gente - segunda edición, Anyaegbunam, C.; Mefalopulos, P.; Moetsabi, T., ES, 181 p. (in Spanish)

To view the 895 documents currently available in the Library section go to: http://www.fao.org/Participation/bibdb/retrieval/index.asp

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In the Field Tools section we highlight the following methods, approaches and tools:

Communities of Practice:  communities of practice (CoP) are groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do, and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better. CoPs can exist face to face, online, or a mix of the two.

Participatory Assessment of Disaster Risk (PADR): using this approach, disaster risk can be fully assessed by local people and effectively reduced through a range of activities. The PADR process involves supervisors and middle managers working with local people to identify and analyse their vulnerabilities and capacities, and to develop and implement an action plan.

Community Vulnerability Assessment Tool:  the Community Vulnerability Assessment Tool is an informational aid designed to assist communities in their efforts to reduce hazard vulnerability. The methodology, developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center, helps local and state governments determine and prioritize their localities' vulnerability to coastal hazards.

Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) assessment process:  a CCR assessment provides vital information and data needed to adapt plans and programs to address resilience gaps and capacity-building needs.

Community Risk Assessment (CRA) Toolkit: CRA uses participatory action research methods to place communities in the lead role for the assessment, active planning, design, implementation and evaluation of activities aimed at reducing the community’s risk to disaster.

Dynamic Facilitation:   this is a technique aimed at empowering people to solve impossible-to-solve issues by bringing out creative and innovative quality of thinking and ideas.

Participatory theatre for conflict transformation:  participatory theatre productions offer communities the opportunity to actively reflect together by using the stage as a place to explore new ways of living and solving their problems, whereby deeper understanding can promote more effective solutions for resolving conflict.

Societies Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR):  Societies Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR) is a comprehensive integrated methodology which combines the strength of participatory learning on HIV & AIDS with social change, with the aim of reducing HIV transmission and fostering gender empowerment.

Empowering young women to initiate change: this is a tool aimed at building capacities and empowering young women to take decision on issues affecting their own lives (in French)

To view the 337 methods, approaches and tools currently available in the Field Tools section go to http://www.fao.org/Participation/ft_find.jsp 

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In the Lessons Learned section we highlight the following articles:

Lessons learned on the use of community-based participatory video: theVideo Sabou et Nafa project (Guinea), by Lauren Goodsmith : this article highlights lessons learned by Communication for Change (C4C) and CPTAFE – the Guinean affiliate of the Inter-African Committee for the Prevention of Harmful Traditional Practices – who jointly promoted a community-based participatory video initiative, known as Projet Video Sabou et Nafa, to help combat female genital mutilation and support practices beneficial to the welfare of women and girls.

Citizen’s commitment and budgetary transparency. A case of participatory budgeting in Fissel, Senegal, by Bara Gueye and World Bank: a case study on the practical implementation of participatory budgeting, as tool to promote inclusive and transparent local governance mechanisms. (in French)

Co-management of natural resources in Cambodia – Poverty reduction through local learning, by Bob Stanley: conflict resolution in Cambodia requires mapping rather than weapons. Researchers and rural people have worked together on the production of maps which convinced the government of the legitimacy of the traditional rights on resource use and management . (in French)

Synergies between private and public stakeholders for local development, by Henry Zambrana: this article describes an experience of multi-stakeholder project planning culminated with the design of a Local Project of Innovation in Food Production in the municipality of San Francisco del Norte , Nicaragua . (in Spanish).

To see the Lessons Learned currently available in the Resources area, go to http://www.fao.org/participation/lessonslearned.html 

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In the Links section we highlight the following websites and organisations:

Participatory development centre (PDC): PDC is a training and research organization whose main purpose is enabling the realization of quality participation and empowerment for governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Community Based organizations, Faith Based Organizations (CBOs), Civil society Organizations (CSOs) and Private Sector Organizations.

The Community Organizing Toolkit : this website provides a set of resources, both in English and Spanish, that supports face-to-face training for residents and community leaders. A computer-based component is used to introduce concepts, prompt discussion, and allow participants to practice skills in a safe, non-threatening environment.

The Community Tool Box: this is the world's largest resource for free information on essential skills for building healthy communities. It is a service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas , and promotes community health and development by connecting people, ideas and resources. It offers more than 7,000 pages of practical guidance in creating community change and improvement .

Educators for Community Engagement (ECE): this is a non-profit organization committed to fostering more democratic classrooms and communities through learning circles, service-learning, and critical dialogue. ECE brings together students, faculty, staff and local community organizations to develop and implement creative strategies for teaching, learning and social justice through learning circles.

Index to Group Activities, Games, Exercises & Initiatives: this website describes classic and novel group games, activities, exercises and initiative tasks, which might be particularly useful for team building facilitators, corporate trainers, camp counsellors, social & youth workers and group leaders. These activities can be used in almost any setting with a wide variety of different groups. The general purpose is to stimulate personal growth and group development.

Communication for Social Change Consortium (CFSC): CFSC is a non-profit organization aimed at building knowledge and local capacity of people living in poor and marginalized communities to use communication in order to improve their own lives. It analyzes best practice, applies CFSC methods to critical situations, develops and test new approaches, sparks innovation and provides online its body of knowledge.

Group Dynamics Resource Page: hosted by the University of Richmond , this website provides a wide collection of resources, organised according to the different phases of the groups’ lifecycle and their dynamics, including Leadership, Conflict, Decision-makingand more. Special resources, such as links to online books and resources for teaching are located at the bottom of the homepage.

Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) - Methods Toolbox: this toolbox provides a guide to the variety of approaches and methods that can be used to produce both rigorous and policy relevant research. Among the others, It includes Participatory approaches and Livelihoods approaches.

Geyser: the Geyser association promotes a wide range of activities, including: the local dialog between collective actors of the rural and peri-urban areas, in order to give solutions to environmental and land use conflicts; the democratization of the technical and scientific choices ; the support to initiatives related to actual challenges and able to strengthen links between citizens.

PAMOJA – African Reflect Network: PAMOJA is an Africa-wide non-lucrative, participatory education and development initiative established in 2002 by African Reflect practitioners, to facilitate learning, sharing and continuing evolution of Reflect practices in Africa. PAMOJA is a Kiswahili word that means ‘together’. This name reflects the organization’s commitment to work with communities for peace, justice and economic development worldwide.

International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture : ICRA is an independent non-profit foundation. It aims to stimulate rural innovation in the South by strengthening the capacities of people and organisations in research, education and development to collaborate and learn from each other to promote sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. Many links on action-research are provided.

To view the 348 websites and organisations currently available in the Links section go to http://www.fao.org/Participation/ow/links.asp 

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