Module 5.3. Participatory Methods

Community ownership of programme implementation can enhance local capacity while ensuring greater long-term project sustainability.

Locally led action for climate, peace and security is not merely shaped by communities, but actively completed by communities. Throughout the implementation process of an LLACPS intervention, project facilitators should invest in:

This module will help users:

• value the need for and potential of multi-scalar capacity development
• consider the role of performance reviews in programme implementation
• launch and nurture a Community of Practice

Capacity refers to an actor’s ability to understand and respond to issues that affect them. Capacity development is about enhancing and expanding that ability. Forms of capacity development include (among others) education, skill building and increased resource access.

In his turn-of-the-millennium book on Development as Freedom, Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen stated that true development “consists of the removal of various types of unfreedoms that leave people with little choice and little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency” (xii). Advocating for political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency guarantees, and protective security, Sen posits that these freedoms “are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principal means” (10). His framework came to be known as the “capabilities approach”, and was further developed by scholars such as Martha Nussbaum. Sen’s work is particularly notable for arguing – in economic terms – that ensuring that individuals, groups, communities, and nations have the necessary capabilities to shape their own destinies is both an inherent (i.e., of worthy in and of itself) and extrinsic (e.g., economically productive) good. 

Twenty-five years later, international institutions have come to engage more and more with agency, capacities, and empowerment as core elements of positive peace and sustainable development. Indicators like the Human Development Index and the Gender Inequality Index have their origins in the capabilities approach; instruments such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly engage with capacity development as critical to their implementation and success.

The United Nations Development Group defines capacity development as “the process whereby people, organizations and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt and maintain [the ability to manage their affairs successfully] over time”. Skills, knowledge, and resources are necessary for actors to achieve their goals and, on a collective level, build and sustain their desired systems.

It’s important to recognize that capacity development is essential at all levels and for all actors, not merely those assumed by mainstream approaches as ‘less capable’. Government officials, corporate leaders, and academic researchers are also in need of capacity development: They need to build their skills in participatory approaches, collaboration, and decolonial practices. Focusing solely on less privileged communities and the Global South reinforces a ‘deficit mentality’, and reinforces ‘capacity building’ as a form of neocolonialism. Locally led action is about developing capacity at all scales, with communities and institutions feeding into each other to collaboratively produce peace-positive climate resilience.

What are Performance Reviews?

Performance reviews have many connotations and meanings, but can most simply be understood as one on one or small group conversations to monitor the implementation of a project or process. For example, if you are managing a project and there are three people on your team, you might have a weekly or monthly check in with each member to explore (1) what they are doing, (2) what seems to be going well, (3) what could be done better, and (4) how you could support them. 

WHY CONDUCT PERFORMANCE REVIEWS?

Performance reviews give project managers a clearer understanding of how a project is progressing. Just as importantly, they provide insight into how the individuals involved perceive their own contributions and experiences. By bringing a more human element to the workplace, performance reviews can strengthen trust, while also identifying potential implementation challenges before they become serious issues. They help keep people on the team connected to each other and to the overarching goal. 

WHAT ARE SOME TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS?

A performance review ideally happens on a weekly or monthly basis and is 30 minutes to 1 hour long. You can start the conversation by asking your team member to give a detailed summary of what they are working on. Then, you can invite their reflection on what they think is going well and what they enjoy, sharing your own opinion, too. Next, you can invite their reflection on what is challenging, why they think it might be challenging, and what they are not enjoying. Together, you can explore any ideas for removing obstacles in the way of their work. Finally, you can conclude with a brief reminder of the overarching timeline of your project, what next steps are, and ask how you can support them in their work. 

WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS?

Pay attention to cultural or community needs, as well as power dynamics before proposing a one on one meeting. If you hold a degree of greater power than participants, whether through your position in the community, your gender, your age, your nationality, or another part of your identity, you may want to ask the team member what approach would make them most comfortable. If you are the project manager, you might automatically be in a position of power, and that may prevent team members from being fully honest with you.

See this slide deck for guidance on managing a Community of Practice.