Participatory approach and four participatory tools

The participatory approach is a bottom-up development approach in which the local people take an active part in identifying needs, planning, decision making, implementation, monitoring and maintenance of development activities. It treats people as partners and builds their ownership and capacity.

Four participatory tools used in community empowerment

1. Focus group discussion (FGD): a guided discussion with 6–12 people of similar background (e.g. women or farmers) to learn their views, needs and problems. It gives voice to groups who may not speak in large meetings.
2. Resource mapping: villagers draw a map of their area showing land, forests, water sources, roads and services. It helps identify resources, problems and sites for projects, using local knowledge.
3. Social mapping and wealth ranking: villagers map households and rank them by wealth/wellbeing using local criteria. This identifies poor and marginalised families so that benefits and jobs can be targeted to them.
4. Transect walk: facilitators and villagers walk across the area, observing and discussing land use, soil, water, crops and problems. It verifies the maps and shows real conditions.

Other tools: seasonal calendar, Venn (chapati) diagram, timeline/historical profile, key informant interview, problem ranking.

How they empower: people analyse their own situation, set priorities, gain confidence and skills, and make decisions themselves.