Module 1.2. Applicable Tools

Effective community mobilisation requires an awareness of who the actors are. The tools presented in this module will be helpful both for preparing to meaningfully engage diverse groups and for ensuring that inclusive participation informs each step of the project.

Different projects will require different degrees of preparation and mobilisation, and different facilitators will prefer different strategies. Not every tool will be necessary for every intervention or action, but being aware of multiple options can help facilitators feel more ready to instigate and help guide Locally Led Action for Climate, Peace and Security. To support this, an introduction, instructions for use and – where relevant – step-by-step worksheet is provided for each of the following tools and approaches:

This module will help users:

• appreciate the importance of identifying a wide range of actors to engage through participatory methods
• consider various strategies for relationship building in diverse communities
• ensure an inclusive, conflict-sensitive approach to participation

WHAT IS ACTOR MAPPING?

Any number of individuals and collectives – to say nothing of non-human actors – will affect (and be affected by) Climate, Peace and Security in a given area. Those involved will include diverse locals and foreigners as well as organised groups and institutions, all with a variety of interests, resources and capabilities.

Actor mapping is about getting to know ‘who’s who’ in a community. It involves (1) identifying relevant individuals and collectives; (2) understanding various interests and sources of influence in the area; and (3) analysing existing power dynamics and relationships.

WHY INVEST IN ACTOR MAPPING?

It’s all well and good to be interested in ‘community mobilisation’…but who is that community? Who is being mobilised? Actor mapping is about knowing who should be involved in a Locally Led Action for Climate, Peace and Security project, and how a project manager might encourage them to participate.

Thorough approaches to actor mapping will help a LLACPS facilitator identify and engage individuals and groups not already known to them, expanding participation and building a more diverse team involved in the project to ensure a variety of interests, identities and perspectives are represented. Actor mapping will also highlight existing relationships between various actors and any ongoing disputes, informing a conflict-sensitive approach to facilitation.

WHAT ARE SOME LIMITATIONS OF ACTOR MAPPING?

Actor mapping is very useful for informing participation and facilitation processes; however, it’s important to remember that an actor map is not entirely accurate or comprehensive. A map reflects the knowledge of those who helped create it. If actor mapping is undertaken only once and/or conducted by a single evaluator, then it is little more than a snapshot: taken from one perspective, at one moment, in one setting. This matters because overly superficial approaches to actor mapping are likely to reproduce inequalities and exclusionary practices, and/or essentially recreate preexisting networks.

Participatory approaches to actor mapping (e.g., conducting the analysis with a diverse group and/or asking actors to identify other actors) can help minimise this limitation by contributing to a more expansive map, but the inclusiveness of such an exercise remains dependent on the starting ‘nodes’ of who was initially identified and how widely they consider and highlight others.

Effective use of actor mapping will approach this tool as a process rather than a product. This entails regularly reviewing the results to update them with new actors, power dynamics and relationships throughout the project life cycle.

WHAT IS RELATIONSHIP BUILDING?

Relationship building is about creating connections with diverse groups in the community, developing trust in the facilitation process of – and the other actors involved in – Locally Led Action on Climate, Peace and Security.

WHY INVEST IN RELATIONSHIP BUILDING?

Communities and landscapes are complicated, with a great many changing interactions and power dynamics. In order to make a genuine impact on them, especially one that is conflict-sensitive and climate-responsive, it will be necessary to bring together diverse actors who may have very different goals, resources, capacities and worldviews. Oftentimes, various members of the community will have preexisting (and potentially unrelated) tensions between them, which must be addressed and managed in order for locally led action to be successful. Trusting relationships between participants and facilitators will be vital to managing conflict and uncertainties.

WHAT ARE SOME LIMITATIONS OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING?

Relationship building can go a long way toward breaking down barriers, but it’s necessary to understand the bounds of the trust that has been built. For example: Actors might cooperate for the sake of accomplishing a particular project, but not believe that underlying enmity has been addressed, and a spike in conflict may bring underlying tensions within a network to the surface.

A certain degree of collaboration will be necessary for Locally Led Action for Climate, Peace and Security to be successful, and the very process of that collaboration will hopefully produce more trust – but that isn’t a guaranteed outcome, and no amount of initial relationship building can promise full partnership throughout a lengthy process. Relationship building must not be seen as something that is completed once a network has been brought together, but rather as something that requires constant care and maintenance.

Additionally, people often feel more connected to individuals than institutions. Trust might be built between specific representatives of different groups, but that trust might be reliant on the representatives’ specific personalities and shared histories, and not transferrable to the wider communities they represent. In order for a locally led action project to be successful, it is important to develop broad relationships that are not dependent on a sole facilitator or particular individual.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY MAPPING?

Community mapping involves identifying and assessing a local area’s features and amenities. Resource mapping and asset mapping are similar methodologies. Depending on the particular approach, various aspects might be emphasised (e.g., economic, environmental, physical and/or social dimensions). Community maps are generally created through a participatory process.

Community maps document the interactions between systems and people, highlighting which resources (including ecosystem services) are accessible to whom, who uses them, how they use them, and what they use them for. Community maps can also highlight existing but underutilised assets, whether they be natural features, infrastructure or institutions.

WHY CREATE A COMMUNITY MAP?

By visually documenting local geography, community maps help highlight the people, assets, services, and ecosystems that affect – and are affected by – climate, peace and security in the area. When conducted as a participatory process, they can serve to help different segments of a society understand how local resources and spaces are used by other groups.

During the community mobilisation phase, a well-facilitated community mapping process can support relationship-building and information-sharing while enhancing buy-in for the project. As locally led action continues into the intervention design stages, a community map can highlight which features might help – or hinder – a proposed intervention. It can also illustrate how the location of project activities might impact different groups in different ways.

Ultimately, a community map is about identifying available supports and existing limitations in order to leverage accessible resources and avoid or mitigate potential concerns.

WHAT ARE SOME LIMITATIONS OF COMMUNITY MAPPING?

Community maps are only as informed as their creators: key assets may be overlooked or misunderstood, depending on who contributes to the map. The greater the degree of participation and the more diverse the participants, the more holistic a map is likely to be.

It may be useful to build from an existing template (e.g., a base layer from Google Earth or Strata); however, the chosen boundaries and highlighted features on the initial imagery will fundamentally impact what is and is not included in a community map. Being aware of starting assumptions and biases is key.

Given seasonal changes to resource availability, especially those related to ecosystem services, a community map may not accurately capture a community’s strengths and vulnerabilities at every point in the year. Combining community mapping with a seasonal calendar can help address this, but will require more time and effort.