Module 2.3. Participatory Methods

Community participation will produce a more holistic problem analysis, building a more nuanced understanding of existing and potential issues to more effectively inform intervention.

Module 2.3 provides facilitators with suggestions for convening community members to produce:

This module will help users:

• engage diverse community members in collaborative analysis
• reflect on which tools will be most effective in a particular context
• conduct a holistic problem analysis through a multi-method, participatory approach

Building on problem tree analysis, discussion and/or the session agenda should identify a shared problem (‘trunk’), then give time for everyone do their own tree – only to bring it back together and show just how many more roots and branches exist than any one individual might have been aware of.

Pre-cut paper ‘leaves’ and ‘roots’ can be passed around to participants, who can write directly on them and then come to the front of a room to tape/paste their aspects on a shared tree – this collective work can feel more engaged than simply discussing and/or having a facilitator do all the writing, and it creates a workshop artefact that can be a useful ‘regrounding’ tool throughout the project’s lifespan.

Facilitators can work with a group to develop a perspectives timeline, which presents a series of events in an ‘objective’ manner alongside the interpretations of two opposing parties regarding what those events ‘really’ mean. This tool can foster empathy by highlighting how divergent narratives contribute to the perpetuation of conflict. It can also help identify potential entry points for intervention, particularly through the clarification or co-creation of a shared narrative of events.

This can be for a real or imagined scenario, and participants can play themselves, or be assigned to walk the timeline in another’s shoes; having diverse small groups required to collectively identify how Actor A versus Actor B sees a situation can help tease out the politicised viewpoints without feeling quite so targeted at an individual’s statements.

Participants in a focus group can individually write down a variety of socioenvironmental factors on sticky notes, then place every member’s factors on a large sheet of flipchart paper. Taking turns to draw and explain a linkage between two or more factors will help the group see how different people will highlight different issues of concern, and illuminate a wider varity of climate-peace-security intersections.

In addition to supporting more holistic analysis, this should expand intergroup awareness of unique challenges and concerns faced by other communities.

The facilitator can give individual participants time to draft their list of connectors and dividers, then have them share in small groups. For each connector named in the group, the group should also identify an analogous/related divider; for each divider, they have to identify a connector. This helps emphasise how climate, peace and security interactions are almost never inevitable or absolute, but rather greatly fluid and dependent on management and community responses. It can also help get people thinking more creatively about possible solutions and interventions.

Participatory approaches to a seasonal calendar allow a wider range of people’s and groups’ interactions with resources and landscapes to be included, showcasing how different communities may experience stress at different periods.

This may highlight shared moments of stress or ease that can be leveraged to bring communities together, and/or support ideas for more equitable management mechanisms.

When pursuing locally led action, it is a good idea to use several tools with various groups, conducting a holistic problem analysis to gain a nuanced understanding of existing and potential issues. Module 2.3 discusses facilitation techniques for the tools introduced above.

It is all too easy, when launching into a new project, to have pre-conceived ideas about what the intervention will look like. Indeed, most funding mechanisms require at least some indication of what the project’s structure and outputs will be, and conducting full-scale community mobilisation and problem analysis without resources is nigh-on impossible, creating a dilemma for implementing organisations: How to simultaneously know what the results of a project will be in order to secure funding, but also commit to participatory approaches and restructuring in response to community responses? Taking participation seriously while meeting donor expectations is incredibly challenging.

It is also tempting, during the problem analysis phase, to immediately begin suggesting solutions. While it’s always important to take note of and acknowledge community members’ ideas, facilitators should ensure that as little focus as possible is given to intervention strategies during problem analysis. This is because shaping a response before holistic problem analysis is complete will reduce the project’s overall efficacy: potential opportunities, challenges, and inequities may be overlooked.

Facilitators should be sure not to assume that an intervention will work, or that an early idea is the best one. Spending sufficient time ‘sitting with’ the problem context helps a community get to know the situation in its entirety. This enables broader (and more creative!) thinking about solutions, and will help maximise possibilities for fuller community engagement, side benefits, and far-reaching impact.

In most LLACPS situations, there will be a general theme or umbrella area of concern, but the specifics of an intervention will not be pre-determined. Ensuring an adequate problem analysis is completed before moving on to solution identification will be crucial to success.

It will likely not be possible to launch LLACPS without some idea of parameters and constraints, but taking steps to build in as much flexibility and adaptability as possible (e.g., organising donors to participatory approaches and ‘do no harm’ values), and avoiding preconceptions or rigid pre-planning, will help.