Community Engagement Tools

1. donnelly consultants community development – from design to evaluation Community Engagement Tools Dr Alana Hulme Chambers and Dr. John Donnelly

2. “…the first act of power people can take in managing their own lives is ‘speaking the world’, naming their experiences in their own words under conditions where their stories are listened to and respected by others.” Friere & Macedo (in Labonte, Feather and Hills, 1999, p3).

3. Community Engagement Tools • For individuals &/or groups • Many and varied • Should be participatory • Should be user friendly • Should be contextual • Should result in meaningful (and measureable) data • Should allow for triangulation

4. Community Engagement Tools Project design: • Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA) • A strength based approach • Highlight peoples’ strengths as they perceive them • To determine shared objectives • To determine understandable, measureable indicators Tools: • Stories • History • Fruitful tree

5. Community Engagement Tools PRA (Participatory Rapid {rural} Appraisal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_rural_appraisal http://www.iied.org/natural-resources/key-issues/empowerment-and-land-rights/participatory-learning-and-action http://pubs.iied.org/8282IIED.html

6. Community Engagement Tools Project implementation and monitoring • A shared process beginning with an understanding of the intended change process • A baseline measurement of indicators • Agreed activities • Periodic measurement of indicators • Comparison with baseline • Discussion of the change (+/-, or not) and response to this change - Monitoring

7. Community Engagement Tools Project implementation and monitoring • Monitoring begins with PRA and the baseline – the situation • Activities are responses to the initial monitoring • Subsequent monitoring informs the ongoing project • Understanding of the shared monitoring process by ALL helps to ensure the changes anticipated by the project, are realised • Understanding, participation and ownership is empowering, ensures rights are respected and enhances sustainability

8. Community Engagement Tools Tools: • Ten Seed Technique • Pocket Chart Ten Seed Technique (TST) http://www.rcpla.org/pdf%20download/Ten%20seed.pdf Jayakaran, Ravi, Dr. (2002) World Vision China.

9. Community Engagement Tools

11. Community Engagement Tools Project evaluation • A shared assessment of what change has occurred and the impact it has had • Involving ALL in the planning of the evaluation in empowering, ensures rights are respected and increases participation • Evaluation is a natural progression from the shared, participatory monitoring process Tools: • Appreciative Inquiry (AI) informed discussion groups • Ten Seed Technique & Pocket chart

12. Community Engagement Tools Appreciative Inquiry (AI) informed focus groups http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appreciative_inquiry Cooperrider, D.L. & Srivastra, S. X. (1987) Appreciative inquiry in organisational life, I Passmore, W.A. & Woodman, R.W. (eda.), Research in in organisational change and development (Vol. 1), Jai Press, Greenwich CT.

14. donnelly consultants community development – from design to evaluation Thanks! Dr John Donnelly Dr Alana Hulme Chambers jsdonnelly@bigpond.comalanahulme@yahoo.com.au +61 2 60271485 + 61 2 60327116 +61 407405266 + 41122737