63 participatory learning and action How wide are the ripples? From local participation to international organisational learning Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) – The International Institute for Environment formerly PLA Notes and RRA Notes – is published and Development (IIED) is committed to twice a year. Established in 1987, it enables promoting social justice and the practitioners of participatory methodologies from empowerment of the poor and marginalised. It also supports around the world to share their field experiences, democracy and full participation in decision-making and conceptual reflections, and methodological governance. We strive to reflect these values in Participatory innovations. The series is informal and seeks to Learning and Action. For further information contact IIED, publish frank accounts, address issues of practical 80-86 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8NH, UK. Website: and immediate value, encourage innovation, and act www.iied.org as a ‘voice from the field’. We are grateful to the Swedish International This work is licensed under the Creative Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the UK Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial- Department for International Development (DfID), Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Recipients are Irish Aid, the Norwegian Agency for Development encouraged to use it freely for not-for-profit purposes only. Cooperation (Norad) and the Ministry of Foreign Please credit the authors and the PLA series. To view a copy Affairs of Denmark (Danida) for their financial of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- support of PLA. nc-sa/3.0 or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second This special issue of PLA was produced in Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA. collaboration with the IKM Emergent Programme (see: http://ikmemergent.net). IKM Emergent is a We welcome contributions to PLA. For information and five-year programme which started in 2007, funded guidelines, please see the inside back cover. by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was developed under the auspices of the Information Download past and current issues Management Working Group of the European All issues of PLA are now free to download from Association of Development Research and Training www.iied.org Institutes (EADI) and is administered by the EADI Secretariat, Bonn. Subscribe Subscriptions are free to the South. For more information Participatory Learning and Action 63 please contact: Research Information Ltd., Grenville Court, © IIED, 2011 Britwell Road, Burnham, SL1 8DF, UK. Email: Order no: 14606IIED [email protected] Website: Cover illustration: Regina Faul-Doyle www.researchinformation.co.uk Design and layout: Smith+Bell Design Printed by: Park Communications Ltd, London Purchase back issues Guest editors: Hannah Beardon and Kate Newman. Please contact Earthprint Ltd., PO Box 119, Stevenage, Editors: Holly Ashley, Nicole Kenton, and SG1 4TP, UK. Email: [email protected] Angela Milligan. Website: www.earthprint.co.uk Strategic Editorial Board: Nazneen Kanji, Jethro Pettit, Michel Pimbert, Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) is an umbrella term Krystyna Swiderska and David Satterthwaite. for a wide range of approaches and methodologies, including International Editorial Advisory Board: Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Rapid Rural Appraisal Oga Steve Abah, Jo Abbot, Jordi Surkin Beneria, (RRA), Participatory Learning Methods (PALM), L. David Brown, Andy Catley, Robert Chambers, Participatory Action Research (PAR), Farming Systems Louise Chawla, Andrea Cornwall, Bhola Dahal, Research (FSR), and Méthode Active de Recherche et de Qasim Deiri, John Devavaram, Planification Participative (MARP). The common theme is Charlotte Flower, FORCE Nepal, Ian Goldman, the full participation of people in the processes of learning Bara Guèye, Irene Guijt, Marcia Hills, about their needs and opportunities, and in the action Enamul Huda, Vicky Johnson, Caren Levy, required to address them. Sarah Levy, Zhang Linyang, PJ Lolichen, In recent years, there has been a number of shifts in the Ilya M. Moeliono, Humera Malik, scope and focus of participation: emphasis on sub-national, Marjorie Jane Mbilinyi, Ali Mokhtar, national and international decision-making, not just local Seyed Babak Moosavi, Trilok Neupane, decision-making; move from projects to policy processes and Esse Nilsson, Zakariya Odeh, Peter Park, institutionalisation; greater recognition of issues of Bardolf Paul, Bimal Kumar Phnuyal, difference and power; and, emphasis on assessing the quality Giacomo Rambaldi, Peter Reason, and understanding the impact of participation, rather than Joel Rocamora, Jayatissa Samaranayake, simply promoting participation. Participatory Learning and Madhu Sarin, Daniel Selener, Anil C Shah, Action reflects these developments and recognises the Meera Kaul Shah, Jasber Singh, importance of analysing and overcoming power differentials Marja Liisa Swantz, Cecilia Tacoli, which work to exclude the already poor and marginalised. Peter Taylor, Tom Wakeford, Eliud Wakwabubi, and Alice Welbourn. 1 Contents Editorial ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4 THEME SECTION: HOW WIDE ARE THE RIPPLES? FROM LOCAL PARTICIPATION TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING 1. Overview: How wide are the ripples? From local participation to international organisational learning Kate Newman and Hannah Beardon ..............................................................................................................................11 2. Making sense together: the Ripples editshop Hannah Beardon and Kate Newman ..............................................................................................................................19 PART I: PARTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION PRACTICES: HOW IS THE INFORMATION GENERATED? 3. Where do we drop the pebble? Using participatory communication for social change Andrew Chetley ............................................................................................................................................................................................25 4. Voices, voices everywhere, but how much learning is going on? Siobhan Warrington ..............................................................................................................................................................................31 5. Opportunities and challenges of participatory processes: the case of Key Correspondents Alice Klein............................................................................................................................................................................................................39 6. Stories, critical analysis and learning in ActionAid Kate Carroll ......................................................................................................................................................................................................45 2 63 7. Who’s leading who? The power of partnerships Rose McCausland ......................................................................................................................................................................................50 8. Digital Storytelling Tessa Lewin........................................................................................................................................................................................................54 9. Bridges to understanding and action: using stories to negotiate meaning across community boundaries Cynthia Kurtz and Stephen Shimshock ........................................................................................................................63 PART II: MAKING SENSE: THE DYNAMICS OF INTERPRETATION AND USE OF PARTICIPATORY OUTPUTS 10. Whose accounts? Cathy Shutt........................................................................................................................................................................................................71 11. Telling stories: who makes sense of participatory communication? Hannah Beardon, Jasber Singh, Rose McCausland, Cynthia Kurtz and Clodagh Miskelly ..........................................................................................................................................................................77 12. EthnoCorder in Burundi: innovation, data collection and data use Nathan Horst ..................................................................................................................................................................................................83 13. Western Balkans Green Agenda: local storytelling through participatory video making Soledad Muñiz ..............................................................................................................................................................................................89 PART III: LEARNING IN ORGANISATIONS 14. Are INGOs brave enough to become learning organisations? Ashley Raeside................................................................................................................................................................................................97 15. ‘I’m starting with the man in the mirror …’ Reflections on personal and organisational learning Daniel Guijarro........................................................................................................................................................................................103