Participatory tools for enhancing local initiatives

Forestry extension services have an important role to play in contributing to a participatory, decentralised and self-sustaining process of rural development. This article describes the approach and different phases of a six-week social forestry training course developed by Forestry Manpower Development (FMP) in Holland. Basic to the training methodology is that participants recognise the value of existing knowledge among the rural population. The participants are then assisted to develop their own participatory approaches to enable them, as extensionists, to make this local knowledge the basis of development initiatives.