Resources

Citizen action and national policy reform

2010

Abstract

How can ordinary citizens - and the organizations and movements with which they engage - make changes in national policies which affect their lives, and the lives of others around them?  Under what conditions does citizen action contribute to more responsive states, pro-poor policies and greater social justice? What is needed to overcome setbacks, and to consolidate smaller victories into 'successful' change? These are the questions taken up by this book which brings together eight studies of successful cases of citizen activism in South Africa, Morocco, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Turkey, India and the Philippines.

Publisher

Zed Books

London, UK
http://www.zedbooks.co.uk

Power and Making Change Happen

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Authors: 
Hunjan, R., and Keophilavong, S.
2010

Abstract

This report is based on the findings of a UK project designed to support civil society to analyse power and, as a result, take action for social change.  It describes how strategies for change can be stregthened when organisations and their communities have a better understanding of their own power and what they can achieve.

Publisher

"Whose inquiry is this anyway?" money, power, reports, and collaborative inquiry

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Authors: 
Kasl E. and Yorks L.
2010

Abstract

Collaborative/cooperative inquiry (CI) is both a method for engaging in new pardigm human inquiry and a strategy for facilitating adult learning. Adult educators who use CI institutional settings must be aware of potential corrupting influences. The authors alert educators to three factors interjected by institutional affiliation that challenge the integrity of the CI process: financial support, power inequities and reporting requirements. These factors are examined in three different contexts: inquiries used for dissertation research, inquiries in the workplace conducted for proessional development, and multiple inquiry projects sponsored by an instituion to serve its mission.

Publisher

Learning to do action research for social change

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Authors: 
Jethro Pettit
2010

Abstract

Action research provides an alternative approach to bringing about changes in knowledge, policy and practice.  But to be effective and inclusive, taking into account complex dynamics of power and participation, action research requires capable facilitators with particular skills – such as the ability to give attention to personal and collective processes of reflection and action.  This article explores the challenges of learning to do this kind of action research that are faced by practitioners and activists working for social change in diverse contexts around the world.  It reviews these challenges, offering insights and lessons from an innovative master’s degree programme called the MA in Participation, Power and Social Change, which uses action research and reflective practice as the basis of its approach to learning.

Building in research and evaluation: human inquiry for living systems

Authors: 
Yoland Wadsworth
2010

Abstract

Yoland Wadsworth’s proposition is that the act of inquiry is the way by which every living organism and all collective human life goes about continuously learning, improving and changing. This book explores this approach, a basic theory of human understanding and action. By delving into the cyclical processes of acting, observing, questioning, feeling, reflecting, thinking, planning and acting again, the author identifies how new life might be brought to what we do, both professionally and personally. She also emphasises that the evaluative process needs to drive progress towards social justice and human betterment.

Facilitating “Hands-on” Training Workshops for Community-Led Total Sanitation: A Trainer’s Training Guide

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Authors: 
Kamal Kar
2010

Abstract

This publication responds to the demand for guidance on how to conduct training of community-led total sanitation (CLTS) facilitators. The fast spread of CLTS to now over 40 countries means that the demand for good facilitators and trainers of facilitators currently outstrips supply. As CLTS requires a special kind of facilitation, it also calls for a different type of training of facilitators. Training always has to be hands-on, in real time, through triggering in communities and lead to emergence of open defecation free (ODF) villages.

The guide includes much useful information on how to organise and conduct CLTS training of facilitators, as well as how to follow-up, and thereby hopes to spread good practice. It is intended for immediate use by trainers around the world. It will also be helpful for those who manage and supervise trainers and facilitators in terms of giving them insight into the different ways CLTS facilitation and training work, allowing them to appreciate the flexibility, specific support needs and special ways of working that CLTS entails.

The Trainers’ Guide encourages trainers to innovate as appropriate and to add to the core principles and practices outlined in this manual.

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